17:04, 4 August 2023
YEREVAN, AUGUST 4, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan has held a meeting with the outgoing Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin.
The Ministry of Defense said in a readout that Papikyan and Wiktorin discussed “a number of issues related to the activity of the EU monitoring mission and regional security.”
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday in a phone call with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement
YEREVAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 03rd August, 2023) Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday in a phone call with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The interlocutors exchanged views on issues of regional security.
They discussed the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh in connection with the illegal blocking of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan," the ministry said.
It said Mirzoyan stressed the need to immediately lift the blockade of the Lachin corridor in line with the decisions of the International Court of Justice of February 22 and July 6, 2023, as well as urgently provide Karabakh with food, medicines and other essentials.
16:22,
YEREVAN, JULY 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is actively discussing the issue of the Rome Statute with Russia, Vice Speaker of Parliament Hakob Arshakyan has said.
He said that launching the process of ratification of the Rome Statute wasn’t meant to be a step against Russia and that its purpose is to prevent Azeri encroachments in sovereign Armenian territory.
Arshakyan made the remarks in response to his Russian counterpart Yuri Vorobyov’s concerns voiced during a meeting of the inter-parliamentary commission on cooperation between the Armenian and Russian parliaments.
Arshakyan expressed hope that a legal solution would be found to the issue that would be acceptable for both Armenia and Russia.
The Vice Speaker noted that Armenia had launched the ratification process before the ICC issued an international arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, which shows that the move wasn’t intended to be against Russia.
Armenia’s highest court ruled in March 2023 that the Rome Statute is in line with the constitution of Armenia. The government said earlier in June that it would submit the Rome Statute to parliament for ratification but thus far hasn’t done so.
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE) – He was born in the Central Valley but left a legacy worldwide.
Richard Gable Hovannisian: A writer of books, a lecturer, and a documenter of the history of the Armenian people.
“He basically then from the ground up developed the study of Armenian history as we know it in the United States,” said Barlow Der Mugrdechian, the director of Fresno State’s Armenian Studies Program.
Born in Tulare in 1932, Hovannisian’s educational journey took him from Fresno State to Cal State Berkeley and eventually to UCLA where he received his doctorate and taught for 60 years. Der Mugrdechian was his student.
“I loved his classes; we all loved his classes. It was just entertaining in the sense of being able to draw you into history,” he said.
Mugrdechian says Hovannisian devoted his life to writing Armenia’s history when he discovered no such writings existed. He was instrumental in the creation of Armenian Studies programs at universities including Fresno State, and courageously spoke out at international conferences demanding the recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide where one and a half million Armenian lives were lost at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
“There, American scholars who were taking the Turkish side would be talking and saying this wasn’t a genocide and everything and he would be standing up and challenging them,” Der Mugrdechian said.
Nazik Messerlian of Fresno was Hovannisian’s sister-in-law. She and her sister, who later became his wife, first met him in college. She describes him as kind, loving, and passionate about the Armenian cause.
“His love of people was I think the foundation to all of this,” she said.
Hovannisian received honors from the Armenian Church and many organizations. A crowning achievement: recording close to a thousand oral histories from Armenian Genocide survivors– the collection is now housed at the Shoah Foundation at USC.
While retired from teaching, Hovannisian never stopped working. His most recent work was published just last year.
His legacy lives on in the generations impacted by Armenian studies in schools teaching a history documented extensively by the lifetime of work of Richard Hovannisian.
Hovannisian had family in Fresno, and they say he always loved his local ties. A national funeral will be held for him on Saturday, July 22 at Holy Trinity Apostolic Church in Fresno at 11:00 a.m.
19:54,
YEREVAN, JULY 20, ARMENPRESS. On July 20, an accident occurred in the administrative building of the General Department of Investigation of Smuggling and Economic Crimes of the Investigative Committee of Armenia. After the interrogation, the 30-year-old citizen of the Russian Federation, a Russian national, accompanied by the officers of the investigative body, handcuffed, left the office of the investigator conducting the preliminary investigation on the fifth floor, went to the end of the corridor to the exit door leading to the elevator. As soon as the door opened, he unexpectedly and quickly approached the open window next to the elevator and threw himself down, as a result of which he died, ARMENPRESS was informed about this by the RA Investigative Committee.
The Russian citizen was accused of drug trafficking.
11:34,
YEREVAN, JULY 20, ARMENPRESS. The cartographical basis which will be used for the delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan must be specified soon, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on July 20.
Speaking at the Cabinet meeting, Pashinyan said that during the Brussels summit Armenia and Azerbaijan reconfirmed their respect for the other country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty with Armenia’s territory covering 29.800 km2 and Azerbaijan’s 86.600 km2.
“The border delimitation is to take place based on the 1991 Almaty Declaration. And soon we must specify the cartographical basis of the delimitation,” Pashinyan said.
The opening of regional connections, as mentioned by President of the European Council Charles Michel, must take place on the principles of sovereignty, jurisdiction and reciprocity between the parties.
“In terms of humanitarian issues, Azerbaijan continues to abandon its promises given to international partners. But we must tirelessly continue to work in the direction of returning the captives and clarifying the fate of those missing,” Pashinyan added.
The Armenian PM said he can’t provide any concrete results from the Brussels trilateral meeting, but nonetheless the negotiations process must continue as intensively as possible, and active efforts must be made to find mutually-acceptable solutions.
19:24,
YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received Aram Arzumanyan, who was disabled as a result of the 44-day war. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan was also present at the meeting, ARMENPRESS was infomred from the Office of the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister had met Aram's parents on July 17 in Artashat, who raised the issue of changing Aram Arzumanyan's disability degree from 1 to 2.
Nikol Pashinyan listened to Aram Arzumanyan, answered his questions, and the minister presented the necessary clarifications regarding the change of degree, informed that Aram was provided with modern high-quality prosthetics, which contributed to his ability to walk.
Prime Minister Pashinyan noted that the government is bringing the policy of providing disability degree to the international standard. "Degree is not a goal, it is a means to solve a problem. The meaning of the policy is as follows. that methodology says, don't assess whether a person has legs or not, but assess whether they can walk, whether their ability to walk has been restored in any way or not. And we think that policy is correct. Our policy is to restore the person's functional capacity. We all focus on the degree all the time, but degree is not the goal. The extent to which functionality has been restored should be assessed. We should try to understand the method of providing degree, how effective it is and what needs to be done to make it more effective," said the Prime Minister.
Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that the Government should do its best to restore the functionality of the person. "We must provide our brothers and children disabled as a result of the war with prosthetics that meet the best international standards.
We do not want you and our other children and brothers to have a disability degree, but to be fully rehabilitated, to be able to get an education, a job, that is, to act freely and to recover your functional capacity. In the cases when this will not be successful, the disability order will be defined by the examination, which will give us an indication that there is a functional problem," said the Prime Minister.
The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs reported that more than 1,400 servicemen were disabled as a result of the 44-day war.
Prime Minister Pashinyan reminded that the comprehensive health insurance system will be introduced in the republic from next year. "Persons disabled as a result of the 44-day war should be included in this system at the very first stage. Our task is not that you say what a good government, it gave me a first degree disability? Our task is to ensure that you walk normally, run, study, work, live. Please, don't push us in the direction of providing a disability degree and thinking that we have solved a problem. We need you to have no disability degree. We need to implement such a modern functional prosthetics that will be both comfortable and functional," said Nikol Pashinyan, adding that the Government will move according to the new methodological standard for disability classification.
During the meeting, Aram Arzumanyan raised other health-related issues. The Prime Minister instructed Minister Mkrtchyan to submit a new draft Government's decision, as necessary, to solve additional health problems of Aram and other persons with disabilities.
An agreement was reached to organize a new meeting in the coming months, including with the participation of other persons with disabilities, to discuss the problems and further steps to solve them.
Yerevan /Mediamax/. Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said that there was a pause in the Armenian-Turkish normalization process.
Speaking at a joint news conference with his Austrian counterpart in Vienna on July 18, Ararat Mirzoyan voiced opinion that this pause is due to the electoral campaign and elections in Turkey.
“Now it is time to continue the talks on the normalization, and there are very concrete steps that already can be implemented by both sides to make sure that we are on the right track and the things are moving towards the final, comprehensive and holistic normalization of relations, opening the border between the two countries and establishing diplomatic relations. And here, of course, I primarily speak about opening the border between Armenia and Turkey for third country nationals, but also Armenian and Turkish nationals with diplomatic passports, and there are some other projects which are being discussed as well,” Mirzoyan said.
Ilda Simonian – Heritage -Jarankutyun (Ilda Simonian, 2022)
Ilda Simonian’s album “Heritage,” released in 2022, highlights her mastery in reimagining twelve timeless Armenian melodies composed by the renowned Bishop Gomidas, also known as Komitas. Simonian skillfully arranges these traditional tunes for a string quartet, intertwining them harmoniously with the melancholic tones of the duduk, an ancient Armenian woodwind instrument made from apricot wood.
The result is a captivating and evocative soundscape that stirs feelings of nostalgia and a yearning for one’s homeland. Simonian’s enchanting and impeccable vocals breathe new life into these age-old compositions, infusing them with a renewed sense of wonder and vitality. The album explores themes such as love, longing, immigration, homesickness, village life, and the beauty of nature, reflecting the artist’s deep connection to her Armenian heritage.