Author: Garo Vardanian

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has initiated an online action portal – – where supporters of Karabakh peace can contact US government officials to take immediate action to stop President Aliyev’s latest deadly anti-Armenian attacks.

Grassroots action is directed to President Obama, Vice-President Biden, Congressional leaders and the OSCE Minsk Group’s Karabakh negotiators to publicly and unequivocally condemn Azerbaijani aggression and take concrete steps to ensure a lasting peace in the region which respects the right to self-determination and freedom of the people of Nagorno Karabakh.  “Unless stopped, President Aliyev will act upon his oft-stated threats to start a full-scale Caucasus war – one that will visit vast death and destruction upon all the peoples of the region, very likely leading to a wider and even more dangerous conflict,” stresses the message to U.S. officials.

The letter campaign is paired with a social media effort urging US leaders to #StopAliyev.

On April 2nd, Azerbaijani forces launched a wide-scale attack along the full-length of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic border, specifically targeting civilian populations with heavy artillery, mortar and gunfire.  One Armenian child has been killed with reports of additional wounded.

The violence comes just days after President Aliyev met with U.S. Vice-President Biden and Secretary of State Kerry during the international nuclear summit held in Washington, DC.  ANCA Executive Director described Aliyev’s warm reception in Washington as giving a “green light” for these latest anti-Armenian attacks.

“Vice President Biden, in personally meeting Azerbaijani President Aliyev in this manner – without any public challenge to his escalating regional aggression and worsening domestic repression – openly emboldened his belligerence while actively undermining American efforts to keep the peace and reach a negotiated settlement,” said Hamparian. “Secretary Kerry in his public remarks with President Aliyev, regretfully, made no mention at all of any American concerns regarding President Aliyev’s threats and acts of violence or his crackdown on domestic dissent. There has, as well, been no mention, in the public record, of the life-saving Royce-Engel peace proposals that the State Department has publicly supported.”

Chelsea Clinton has referred to the Ayrora Prize.

“Great to hear that Syeda Ghulam Fatima, 2015 Clinton Global Citizen Award winner, is now an ‪Aurora Prize finalist,” Clinton wrote in a Facebook post.

Syeda Ghulam Fatima is one of the four contenders for the first ever Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. Last year she was honored with the Clinton Global Citizen award in New York.

She has worked tirelessly to eradicate bonded labor, one of the last remaining forms of modern slavery. Fatima is the general secretary of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front Pakistan (BLLF), which has liberated thousands of Pakistani workers, including approximately 21,000 children, who were forced to work for brick kiln owners in order to repay debts. The interest rates are too high for workers to pay off, trapping the workers in forced labor and poor—often brutal—conditions. Fatima has survived attempts on her life and repeated beatings during the course of her activism.

Four finalists have been announced for the Aurora Prize: Marguerite Barankitse, from Maison Shalom and REMA Hospital in Burundi; Dr. Tom Catena, from Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan; Syeda Ghulam Fatima, the General Secretary of the Bonded Labor Liberation Front in Pakistan; and Father Bernard Kinvi, a Catholic priest in Bossemptele in the Central African Republic.

The co-founders of 100 LIVES and the Aurora Prize Selection committee – co-chaired by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and Academy Award-winning actor and humanitarian George Clooney – will honor the Aurora Prize finalists for their exceptional acts of humanity with a weekend of events from April 22 through April 24, 2016.

On behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, and in gratitude to their saviors, the Aurora Prize celebrates the strength of the human spirit that compels action is the face of adversity.

Recipients will be recognized for the exceptional impact their actions have made on preserving human life and advancing humanitarian causes. On behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors, an Aurora Prize Laureate will be honored each year with a US$100,000 grant as well as the unique opportunity to continue the cycle of giving by nominating an organization which inspired their work for a US$1,000,000 award.

The Aurora Prize will be awarded annually on April 24 of each year in Yerevan, Armenia.

February 27-28 Armenia and Artsakh were represented at the LA Travel and Adventure Show in the city of Long Beach, California, with the support of the Armenian Consulate General in Los Angeles and the Armenian-American Business Council.

The visitors were introduced to the peculiarities of the tourism in Armenia and Artsakh, including the actively developing eco-tourism.

Attending the event were the Armenian Ambassador to the US Grigor Hovhannisyan, NKR Representative to Washington Robert Avetisyan and a business delegation from Armenia.

Armenia was represented at the show by LA-based Armenian travel agencies, which offer tours to Armenia and Artsakh.

The Armenian booth was recognized the most beautiful and the most visited.

– It has been revealed that the Trabzon gendarmerie intelligence office had been watching Hrant Dink around his home for 4 months before he was assassinated.

Yasin Hayal’s relative Coskun Igci informed Trabzon gendarmerie intelligence office about the Dink murder in the summer of 2006. Hayal is the Turkish criminal who is serving a life sentence for inciting the individual who murdered Dink.

According to Selahattin Gunday’s report in Al Jazeera, it was also confirmed that 4 officials from the gendarmerie intelligence office came to Istanbul on August 2006.

Cellphone records of the officials from the intelligence office were examined and it showed that their phones were signaling from IIstasyon Cad. Odak İş Hanı No:l Bakırköy between August 8 and 11.

After that, Dink’s cellphone records were also examined and this examination revealed that his phone was also signaling from the same address at the same time. This address is close to Dink family’s permanent address.

In 2008, a lawsuit was filed against 3 of those officials due to neglect of duty. However, the fact that they had been following Dink in Istanbul wasn’t added to that lawsuit.

This information about the gendarmerie isn’t in the indictment prepared by prosecutor Gokalp Kokcu. This information also wasn’t included in the lawsuit that was filed against police chiefs like Faruk Sarı, Ahmet İlhan Guler, Engin Dinc, Ali Fuat Yılmazer, Sabri Uzun and Ramazan Akyurek.

On October 15, 2015, the information about the gendarmerie was separated from the lawsuit against police chiefs. This doesn’t mean that they are excluded from the investigation, but that the gendarmerie wasn’t in the indictment.

During the meeting the sides exchanged opinions on a range of issues of mutual interest, in particular, the  situation on the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan, as well as the monitoring conducted by the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

The importance of maintaining stability on the Line of Contact was mutually emphasized.

The sides also touched upon a range of issues related to the activities and upcoming plans of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

Hollywood actor Alan Rickman has died at the age of 69 after waging a secret battle with cancer, his family said today, the Daily Mail reports.

The star, known for his roles in films such as Harry Potter and Robin Hood, kept his fight with illness private before his death.

The Azerbaijani side used artillery weapons of different caliber as it fired more than 1,200 shots from weapons of different caliber in the direction of the Armenian positions over the weekend, the NKR Ministry of Defense reports.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army refrained from responding to the provocative actions of the rival and confidently performed their military duty all along the line of contact.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has issued a message on the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. The message reads:

“Today, we observe the first-ever International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. This occasion also coincides with the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948.

This is an ideal time to reaffirm our commitment to prevent this serious international crime, honour the memory of the victims, and reaffirm the right to remedies and reparation, as recognized in international law.

Preventing genocide means paying more attention to the warning signs, and being prepared to take immediate action to address them.  This is the spirit of my Human Rights up Front initiative.

After all, genocide does not just happen; it unfolds over time.  It is not part of the accidental “fallout” of conflict; most often, it is systematic, planned, with precise targets, and it can also take place outside of conflict situations.

Across the world today, intolerance and xenophobia are on the rise. A dangerous “us versus them” dynamic is often being exploited to justify the exclusion of communities based on different forms of identity such as religion, ethnicity or other, and to deny assistance, restrict human rights and perpetrate atrocious acts of violence.

The prevention of genocide is a specific obligation under international law.  The International Court of Justice and other judicial bodies have made that very clear.  Governments must act on this imperative by investing in prevention and taking preventive action.  On this new international observance, let us recognize the need to work together more concertedly to protect individuals from gross human rights violations and uphold our common humanity.”

US rock band Eagles of Death Metal have appeared on stage in Paris, less than a month after deadly attacks during their performance in the French capital, the BBC reports.

The band took to the stage to perform at the end of a U2 concert at the AccorHotels Arena.

“They were robbed of their stage three weeks ago and we would like to offer them ours tonight,” said singer Bono.

Ninety of the 130 people who died in the 13 November attacks were killed at the concert at the Bataclan venue.

Bono embraced Eagles of Death Metal singer Jesse Hughes ahead of an emotional joint rendition of Patti Smith’s People Have The Power.

EODM then performed I Love You All The Time.

An appearance by the Eagles of Death Metal at the 16,000-capacity arena had been heavily rumoured.

Photo: Reuters

A suspected US-led coalition air strike has killed four Syrian military personnel, according to a monitoring group.

The strike took place in Deir al-Zour province, which is largely held by the jihadist group Islamic State, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

If confirmed, it would be the first coalition strike to have killed Syrian government forces.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory said 13 military personnel were also wounded.

The strike hit part of the Saeqa military camp, near the town of Ayyash, it said.

The IS controls most of the province, including almost all of its capital, Deir al-Zour.

A separate strike believed to have been carried out by the coalition in the city overnight killed a woman and two of her children, the Syrian Observatory said.

Deir al-Zour province links Islamic State’s de facto capital in Raqqa with territory controlled by the group in Iraq. The area’s oilfields are a major source of revenue for IS.