Author: Hovsep Chakrian

On April 20, at 16.00, in accordance with the arrangement reached between the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the Azerbaijani side handed over the body of a deceased serviceman near Bash-Karvend settlement.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will hold a debate on Nagorno Karabakh, according to the session posted on PACE’s official website.

The current affairs debate on “The recent and tragic escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict” is scheduled for April 18, the first day of the spring session.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will visit Moscow on April 8 to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the Armenian Foreign Ministry’s press service announced Wednesday.

“Nalbandian will leave for Moscow on April 8 where a meeting is planned with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov,” the press service said.

The same day the Armenian Foreign Minister will participate in the sitting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers.

At a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Ambassador James Warlick, representing the three Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group, and the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, informed the 57 OSCE participating States about recent developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Warlick and Kasprzyk welcomed news about the cessation of hostilities and urged the sides to respect the ceasefire. They stressed that it is important to return to the political process on the basis of a sustainable ceasefire. OSCE participating States agreed  that the latest escalation is deeply worrying and that it is necessary for the OSCE to continue playing a central role in facilitating a peaceful settlement. All participating States should support the activities of the Minsk Group and those of its Co-Chairs.

The Co-Chairs announced that they will travel to the region shortly, together with Ambassador Kasprzyk. Ambassador Kasprzyk will also travel to the areas affected by the military escalation as soon as the situation permits.

In Berlin, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said: “Reports on the cessation of hostilities are encouraging. Our immediate efforts must now focus on stabilizing the ceasefire and preventing any new escalation. Hostilities must stop in an effective and lasting way. In this regard, I welcome the early visit of the Co-Chairs to the region. I remain in close contact with the sides and other international actors.”

MEPs and parliamentarians from Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine meet this week to discuss energy cooperation and common security threats, according to the European Parliament’s official website.

A session of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, which brings together MEPs and Armenian, Georgian, Moldovan and Ukrainian parliamentarians, takes place in Brussels this week.

Photo: Reuters

Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam has been wounded and arrested in a raid in Brussels, officials say, the BBC reports.

They said Abdeslam, who has been on the run since the November attacks, was wounded in the leg as police moved in on a flat in the Molenbeek area.

“We got him” said Theo Francken, Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, on Twitter (in Flemish).

Abdeslam is a key suspect in the jihadist attacks in Paris which 130 people died.

Abdeslam’s fingerprints were found in a Brussels flat raided on Tuesday.

 

 

 

The 30-minute program of the Yazidi service of Public Radio of Armenia has always played an important role in helping the Yazidi people preserve their national identity, religion and traditions, but it’s high time to improve the program. The leadership of Public Radio of Armenia intends to update the Yazidi service. Executive Director Arman Saghatelyan met with representatives of the Yazidi community of Armenia today to listen to their opinions and proposals.

A country with a world-spread Diaspora could not stay indifferent towards its own ethnic minorities. With this in mind, the Public Radio of Armenia has given voice to the Yazidi community by airing a 30-minute program every day for 26 years now.

“We’ll try to fill the gaps, by providing listeners with information related to Yazidis of the world, launching discussions on issues of concern featuring Armenian and international experts,” said Gayane Gasparyan, head of the Overseas Service of the Public Radio of Armenia. According to her, the “program will refer to the Yazidi communities all over the world and reflect the problems they face in different countries of the world.

The Archaeological site of Ererouyk and the village of Ani Pemza in Armenia, Patarei Sea Fortress in Tallinn inEstonia, Helsinki-Malmi Airport in Finland, Colbert Swing Bridge in Dieppe in France, the Kampos of Chios in Greece, the Convent of St. Anthony of Padua in Extremadura in Spain, and the Ancient city of Hasankeyf and its surroundings inTurkey have been named as the . Europa Nostra, the leading European heritage organisation, and the European Investment Bank Institute (EIBI) made the announcement during a public event at the Ateneo Veneto in Venice, Italy.

These gems of Europe’s cultural heritage are in serious danger, some due to lack of resources or expertise, others due to neglect or inadequate planning. Urgent action is therefore needed. Expert missions to the sites will be arranged and feasible action plans submitted by the end of the year. ‘The 7 Most Endangered’ has the support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, as part of Europa Nostra’s network project ‘Mainstreaming Heritage’.

Europa Nostra and the European Investment Bank Institute, together with other partners and the nominators, will visit the 7 selected sites and meet with key stakeholders in the coming months. The heritage and financial experts will provide technical advice, identify possible sources of funding and mobilise broad support.

The 7 Most Endangered for 2016 were selected by the Board of Europa Nostra from the 14 sites shortlisted by a panel of specialists in history, archaeology, architecture, conservation, project analysis and finance. Nominations were submitted by civil society or public bodies which form part of Europa Nostra’s vast network of member and associate organisations from all over Europe.

The 7 Most Endangered heritage sites in Europe in 2016

Ererouyk is a superb monument of Early Christian architecture, an architecture of great variety and distinction, today often subjected to neglect, if not willful destruction, in most of its original homeland around the Eastern Mediterranean. Armenian religious architecture, amongst the finest and most innovative, is well represented by Ererouyk. The monument dates back to the 6th century and lies on a rocky plateau close to the river that forms the border with Turkey, in the vicinity of the ancient capital Ani. All around the three-aisled basilica lay the remains of funerary and other relevant monuments which deserve immediate study and preservation. This is crucial for the understanding of a settlement within a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural framework during the Middle Ages, as demonstrated by relevant archaeological findings that also need to be studied and displayed.

The site is at constant danger from earthquakes, a danger increased by the condition of the monument. Yet, if preserved and well managed, it has the potential to give life to the whole region as a site that will attract visitor, with the nearby Soviet-era style village of Ani Pemza, built in 1926, serving as a potential centre for cultural tourism.

The Centre of Studies and Documentation of Armenian Culture in Italy (CSDCA) submitted the nomination for ‘The 7 Most Endangered’ 2016.

Patarei is a complex of buildings, originally built as a naval fortress under Tsarist rule in 1829-1840. It became a prison between 1920 and 2005, and contains monuments to victims of both Nazi and Stalinist rule. The site is thus closely linked to the sad vicissitudes of Estonia’s recent history. Its rapid deterioration is due to lack of maintenance in harsh climatic conditions.

Helsinki-Malmi Airport is a rare surviving example of pre-World War II aviation architecture, built for the 1940 Olympic Games, scheduled to be held in Helsinki but cancelled due to the war.

Malmi Airport, complete with its original hangar, terminal and runways, is still in use with about 40,000 landings per year, offering the only free-schedule international service within 150 km. The area has been declared a cultural environment of national significance by Finland’s National Board of Antiquities. Its open meadow has considerable biodiversity and makes the nature path encircling the site very popular among locals. Helsinki’s new General Plan proposes to fill the airport with apartment blocks to be constructed in the early 2020s, while the state is to withdraw its operations from the airport by the end of 2016.

The Colbert Bridge, built in 1889, is contemporary with the Eiffel Tower and still functions with its original system of hydraulic pression, carrying about 12,000 vehicles and 1,800 pedestrians daily, makes it an important example of the technical and architectural achievements of the late 19th century. It swings 6 to 8 times each day for the harbour traffic and ensures greater reliability than many modern bridges.

Although one of the earliest examples of “moveable” architecture, a living memory of Dieppe’s cultural and social history and potentially a tourist attraction, its owner, the Syndicat Mixte du Port de Dieppe is planning to demolish it and replace it with a new structure in 2017.

The Kampos of Chios is a semi-urban, semi-rural area where the islands’ wealthier families built beautiful mansions of local stone, surrounded by citrus orchard estates. The 200 houses and towers which survive, combined with high stone walls separating the estates and narrow surrounding lanes, create a poetic landscape.

The Convent of St. Anthony of Padua near Cáceres comprises a late Gothic church, built in 1476 with some small additions in the Renaissance period and, most notably, others from between 1656 and 1661. The convent lies in the village of Garrovillas de Alconétar, which has a long history and a wealth of monuments; all in danger of dereliction as its inhabitants move on to larger cities.

Hasankeyf, sitting on the banks of the River Tigris, is one of the most important architectural and archaeological sites in Europe, boasting a rich biodiversity and 12,000 years of human history. Masterpieces of Islamic architecture, dating from the 12th to 15th centuries C.E., make the town one of the best preserved witnesses to Seljuk urban culture, particularly from the Artukid and Ayyubid dynasties.

In addition, Europa Nostra and the EIB Institute – following a firm recommendation from an international advisory panel of experts – decided that the Venice Lagoonin Italy should be declared the most endangered heritage site in Europe.

There could be no Venice and no Venetian civilization without the lagoon. Few historic sites in the world demonstrate so clearly the interdependence of humankind with our environment, of nature with culture.

Yet just as the world contributes to the conservation of monuments in the city, unsustainable development is cutting the physical branch on which Venice has always perched.

A bishop from the Syrian province of Aleppo says the majority of the Arab country’s Christian community supports President Bashar al-Assad in any future election, reports. 

The Chaldean Catholic bishop, Antoine Audo, said on Wednesday that about 80 percent of Syria’s Christian population would support Assad if he stood for reelection.

Speaking to reporters in Switzerland’s city of Geneva, Audo criticized “propaganda” against the Syrian leader, insisting that there was no persecution of Christians by the government.

He further said that ongoing deadly conflict in the country aimed to “destabilize the Syrian society and transform the war into a confessional war.”

The bishop added that other minorities and communities in the country also supported Assad in his fight against “the extremists.”

Audo stated that different terrorist groups including the Daesh militants fighting the government in Damascus posed a serious threat to Syrian Christians, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee the country.

According to Audo, the country’s 1.5 million Christian population before the start of the foreign-backed militancy in 2011 now stands at about 500,000, “due to insecurity.”

He said only around 40,000 of Aleppo’s once 160,000 Christian population remained in the province, adding that the community faced great dangers day to day.

The Christian figure also noted that Damascus has served as a model for peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims and that the current situation has been “imported.”

Japan is marking the fifth anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that left more than 18,000 dead or missing, the BBC reports.

PM Shinzo Abe and Emperor Akihito are attending a memorial in Tokyo, and joined a moment of silence nationwide at the exact moment the quake hit.

The magnitude-9.0 quake struck offshore, creating a vast water surge that devastated the north-east coast.

It also triggered the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Water inundated the plant, taking cooling systems offline which set off a series of meltdowns.

The subsequent disaster spewed radiation over a wide area and forced the evacuation of more than 160,000 local people.

Five years on, most have not been able to return to their homes, despite extensive decontamination work.