Author: Garik Boshkezenian

US President Barack Obama has said the UK vote to leave the EU raises “longer-term concerns about global growth,” the reports.

He said Brexit would “freeze the possibilities of investment in Great Britain or in Europe as a whole”.

He appealed to the UK prime minister and other EU leaders to ensure an orderly process for the British exit.

Mr Obama was speaking at a summit in Ottawa with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, aimed at strengthening economic ties between North American countries.

He said the preparations by central banks and finance ministers indicated that “global economy in the short run will hold steady”.

But he added: “I think there are some genuine longer-term concerns about global growth if in fact Brexit goes through and that freezes the possibilities of investment in Great Britain or in Europe as a whole.

“At a time when global growth rates were weak already, this doesn’t help,” the president said.a

President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian government to discuss the restoration of cooperation with Turkey, including in trade, after phone conversation with his Turkey counterpart earlier in the day, the Kremlin said Wednesday, Sputnik News reports.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a telephone conversation either on June 29 or June 30, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has stated, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Asbarez – The Armenian American Museum Governing Board said said that it commends California Governor Jerry Brown for including a $1 million earmark for the Museum in the 2016-2017 California State budget.

“The funding from the State of California at this early stage of the Museum project will give an important boost to securing the approvals and funding needed for the construction of the Armenian American Museum in Glendale,” explained Governing Board Co-Chair Archbishop Hovnan Derderian.

“We are grateful to Senate President Pro-Tempore Kevin De Leon and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon for including funding for the Armenian American Museum in the compromised Budget negotiated with the Governor,” stated Co-Chair Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian.

Archbishop Mardirossian and other representatives of the Museum met with Speaker Rendon (D—Paramount) and worked with Senate President Kevin de Leon (D—Los Angeles) to include the funding request submitted by Senator Carol Liu (D—Glendale) and Assembly Member Adrin Nazarian (D—Sherman Oaks).

Although the funding included in the compromised budget between the Legislature and the Governor is lower than the amount approved by the State Assembly, the Armenian American Museum’s Executive Committee Chair Berdj Karapetian described it as “a sizeable commitment by the State to make the Armenian American Museum a reality.” Karapetian additionally noted, “This is an important first step and we hope that more funding will be available as we move forward with this project.”

The Armenian American Museum is working closely with the City of Glendale to complete the due diligence requirements and feasibility studies for building the Museum in the Arts and Entertainment District of the City.

The mission of the Armenian American Museum is to promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Armenian American experience.

Pope Francis and Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II drove around the Vartanants Square in Gyumri in Papamobile following a Holy Mass in Armenia’s second largest city.

Several groups of Russian pilgrims will visit Armenia to pray with Pope Francis and thousands of Catholics at a Holy Mess in Gyumri’s Vartanats Square on June 25, Fr. Petros Yesayan, leader of the Armenian Catholic community of Russia told RIA Novosti.

Groups from Moscow, Bryansk, Krasnodar, Sochi, Adler and other cities are expected to visit Armenia. According to Fr. Yesaya, there are three Catholic priests serving in Russia today.

The visit of Pope Francis to the Republic of Armenia will start on 24 June. The official welcoming ceremony will be held upon his arrival at the Zvartnots International Airport, following which the Pope will travel to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, where a welcoming service will be offered in the Mother Cathedral.

In the evening, Pope Francis will meet with President Serzh Sargsyan, of the Republic of Armenia; then with the authorities and community leaders and representatives of diplomatic missions accredited in Armenia. The first day will conclude with a meeting at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, with His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

On the morning of 25 June, His Holiness Pope Francis will visit Tsitsernakaberd, the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex and Museum in Yerevan. Pope Francis, along with His Holiness Karekin II, will visit the city of Gyumri, where a Divine Liturgy will be offered in Vardanants Square. The Pope will also visit Our Lady of Armenia Convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in Gyumri; then the Seven Wounds St. Mary Church of the Diocese of Shirak of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church and the Holy Martyrs Armenian Catholic Cathedral. In the evening, an outdoor Ecumenical Service and Peace Prayer will be held in Yerevan – in Republic Square.

On 26 June, in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Pope Francis will meet with Armenian Catholic bishops, and then participate in a Divine Liturgy and an Ecumenical dinner, along with the Catholicos of All Armenians, the Archbishops and Bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, Armenian Catholic Archbishops and Bishops and the Papal delegation. Pope Francis will also meet delegates and benefactors of the Armenian Church. His Holiness Pope Francis and His Holiness Karekin II will sign a joint declaration.

The Spiritual leaders will offer their prayers at the Khor Virap Monastery, following which Pope Francis will depart for Rome.

Archbishop Aram Ateshyan, General Vicar of the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey Aram Atesyan will leave for Russia today, according to the website of the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul.

Archbishop Atesyan will later arrive in Armenia to participate in the sitting of the Supreme Religious Council and the events organized on the occasion of the Pope’s visit.

The Acting Patriarch stirred a major controversy among Armenians worldwide, including the Armenian community of Turkey, as he sent a highly controversial letter last week to Turkish President Recep Erdogan, criticizing the German Parliament’s decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

German Green party leader Cem Ozdemir, a German-Turk who proposed a resolution to recognize the 1915-16 mass killings of Armenians in Turkey as genocide, is under police protection after receiving death threats, the Sunday edition of reports.

“We are thoroughly used to abuse and insults, but we have never experienced such a high number of death threats,” the head of Ozdemir‘s office Marc Berthold told Die Welt.

The Berlin police  increased their presence around Ozdemir‘s flat on Thursday following the almost unanimously approved  recognizing the killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

Ozdemir said that extremists were not unique to Germany. “Right-wing radicalism is not a German privilege. Unfortunately it also exists in Turkey and among German Turks,” Ozdemir told the newspaper.

Most death threats come from Turkish nationalists. “I will come to Germany and  kill you,” one man tweeted. Another twwet reads: “We should honor this loose assimilated German Cem Ozdemir with a shoot in the head.”

The threats, whether they arrive with flyers, mail, e-mail or Twitter, are now forwarded by Ozdemir office directly to the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germanyand analyzed there.

The Australian parliament is being urged to follow Germany’s lead and recognise the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces during World War One as genocide, reports.

The call comes from an Armenian-Australian community group, after the German parliament passed a resolution designating the deaths as the most serious of international crimes.

A Turkish community organisation, meanwhile, says Australia has no business taking a position on the issue.

The Bundestag voted overwhelmingly in support of recognising the Ottoman Turk massacre of Armenians starting in 1915 as genocide.

A  resolution introduced to the parliament also acknowledged the German Empire, then an ally of the Ottomans, failed to act to prevent the deaths.

A group known as the Armenian National Committee of Australia says the vote sends a strong message to Turkey to come to terms with its history.

Executive Director Vache Kahramanian regards it as an important moment.

“The motion that was adopted in the German Bundestag is a very welcome development in the global efforts for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Germany, including the support of the German government, adopted a motion recognising the events of 1915 as a genocide. And this is the first time that Germany has formally put on record its condemnation of the events that occurred, and also took responsibility for its role in not preventing the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians by its ally, the Ottoman Empire, during that time.”

That number is disputed by Turkey, which says hundreds of thousands of people, and not only Armenians, were killed and subjected to what it calls ‘relocations’.

It also rejects the terminology “Armenian Genocide”, and has warned of possible further repercussions, after it recalled its ambassador from Germany to protest the resolution.

In Australia, one Turkish community group says the German parliament’s actions have undermined the possibility of reconcilliation and betterment of relations between Turkey and Armenia.

Australia isn’t among the more than 20 countries to officially adopt the term “Armenian Genocide” at a national level, as the parliaments of New South Wales and South Australia have done.

But the Armenian National Committee of Australia’s Vache Kahramanian believes there’s enough support on both sides of parliament for national recognition.

“Hopefully what Australia will now do is to now have the moral high ground and tell its ally and friend, the current republic of Turkey, that it needs to come to terms with its own history, and Australia should join the international community by recognising the events of 1915 as a genocide through a formal motion in the Australian parliament.”

In 2015, on the centenary of ANZAC World War One landings on Turkey’s Gallipoli peninsula – which coincided with commemoration of the “Armenian Genocide” – Australia would not commit an official representative to attend formal events in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

Declassified documents revealed by SBS showed that in the lead up, the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was assuring the Turkish government there would be no change in Australia’s position.

That’s after the publication of comments in Australia and Turkey attributed to then Treasurer Joe Hockey, who is partially of Armenian descent, in which he allegedly upheld the need to acknowledge the “Armenian Genocide”.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will leave for Paris on June 2 to meet with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.