President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree today, appointing Armen Amiryan – long-time Executive Director of Public Radio of Armenia – as Minister of Culture.
According to an earlier presidential decree, Armen Amiryan was relieved of the duties of the Member of the Council of Public Television and Radio Company of Armenia.
President Serzh Sargsyan visited today Euromotors Company to attend the inauguration of “BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce” exhibition hall.
The opening ceremony was also attended by co-owner of Euromotors, Prince Group President Adel Al Marzuki, BMW Group Vice President Thomas Rhein, Company Sales Director Konrad Baumgartner, Regional Director Victor Eisenbraun, Director of Euromotors Jaber Al Marzuki, co-owner of Euromotors, founder of Multi Group concern Gagik Tsarukyan, Armenian officials.
Accompanied by them, the President of Armenia toured the newly built exhibition hall, which is the largest such facility in the region. After being told about the new jobs and the investments made so far, Serzh Sargsyan was shown the exhibits on display.
The bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial will be submitted to the French Senate in a few days, Mayor of the French city of Alfortville, Vice-Chairman of the Armenia-France Friendship Group at the French Senate Luc Carvounas told a press conference today.
Mr. Carvounas hopes they will find a common ground with forces standing against the adoption of the bill. “I assure I’ve voted in favor of the bill before. We have had good relations with Armenia for a long time and have worked on issued of Armenian Genocide. I don’t think we’ll deviate from the path.
Speaking about the Turkish-Azerbaijani lobby, the Senator said “they are working actively, but are unable to prevent the work of the parliamentarians.”
Luc Carvounas heads a French delegation that has arrived in Armenia to participate in the events dedicated to the 25th anniversary of independence.
The delegation has also visited Artsakh and held a meeting with NKR President Bako Sahakyan.
Senator Carvounas first visited Armenia with a delegation headed by French President Francois Hollande on the Armenian Genocide centennial.
Photo:Â Alexei Druzhinin/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS
Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev has been appointed Uzbekistan’s acting president, TASS reports.
Uzbekistan’s parliament recommended the Central Election Commission to organize presidential elections in accordance with the country’s law.
Uzbekistan’s first President Islam Karimov died after suffering a stroke at the age of 78 on September 2.
Photo: Reuters
At least 40 people have been killed in four bombings in government-held areas of Syria and one in a city dominated by Kurdish forces, state media report, the BBC reports.
The attacks took place between 08:00 and 09:00 (05:00-06:00 GMT) around Damascus, Homs, Tartous and Hassakeh. It was not clear if they were linked.
The deadliest incident was outside Tartous, on the Mediterranean coast.
Tartous, which hosts a Russian naval base, is a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect.
A news agency affiliated to the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) said it was behind the Hassakeh attack, which allegedly targeted Kurdish militiamen.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he isn’t surprised at his former club Borussia Dortmund’s decision to sell a number of top stars, including Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who signed for Manchester United for ÂŁ30m, according to .
The German manager also said that it was a perfect time for Mkhitaryan to make the move and enhance his career.
Klopp brought Mkhitaryan to Dortmund in 2013 for a record-breaking €27.5m fee, but he failed to find his feet until last year, when he excelled under Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel.
“I was not swept off my feet when I heard about it,” Klopp told . “If a player plays such a season he gets so much attention and opportunities he never dared to even dream of before.
“It was clear from day one that Mkhitaryan would not be at Dortmund forever. Last season was his year and there could not have been a better market than the current one for him.”
Klopp went on to say the sales of Mats Hummels to Bayern Munich and Ilkay Gundogan to Manchester were formalities, and that Dortmund need to deal with selling top players every year.
Photo: Reuters
Polls have opened in a historic referendum on whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union or leave, the BBC reports.
An estimated 46,499,537 people are entitled to take part in the vote – a record number for a UK poll.
Polling stations opened at 07:00 BST and will close at 22:00 BST.
It is only the third nationwide referendum in UK history and comes after a four-month battle for votes between the Leave and Remain campaigns.
The Armenian Public Radio (Los Angeles) and TmbaTa band (Yerevan) will participate in the 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Sounds of California July 7-8.
At the 2016 Folklife Festival, Sounds of California will present a series of evening concerts as well as daytime performances and activities, offering a glimpse into how musical culture mirrors the movements reshaping the state and the nation today. The festival will feature artists who contribute to the soundscapes of California, who demonstrate the social power of music and cultural heritage.
The Armenian Public Radio builds a bridge between contemporary musical styles and traditional Armenian music, bringing a new perspective to Armenian folk songs that have withstood the test of time. Based in Los Angeles, the acoustic trio has made it their mission to revive these songs in their community and introduce them to wider audiences.
The group’s members grew up in California as children of families who emigrated from Western Armenia to Syria and Lebanon before coming to the United States. Living in a musically vibrant Armenian diaspora, these artists reinterpret the Armenian music of their childhood in an innovative and enthusiastic style which holds multigenerational appeal. Armenian Public Radio chooses their songs from a broad mix of genres and all songs are sung in Armenian, the language of their lives.
For some of their presentations, Armenian Public Radio will be joined by members of TmbaTa, a youth folk rock band born from the music program of the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies in Yerevan, Armenia, in 2013. Led by Arik Grigoryan of The Bambir, they perform original compositions based on traditional Armenian folk songs combined with rock and experimental music. The group is comprised of thirty teens who learn all stages of music creation including composition, performance, recording, mixing, and mastering.
Tumo Center for Creative Technologies is an innovative after-school program where thousands of students aged twelve to eighteen are in charge of their own learning. Tumo is a partner in the Smithsonian’s My Armenia project.
 is a collaborative cultural sustainability and tourism program between USAID, Smithsonian Institution, and the people of Armenia.
PHOTO:Â AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The price of oil has gone above $50 a barrel for the first time in 2016 as supply disruptions and increased global demand continue to fuel a recovery, the BBC reports.
The benchmark Brent crude price hit $50.07 a barrel in Asian trade.
The rise followed US data on Thursday showing that oil inventories had fallen, largely due to supply disruptions following fires in Canada.
Brent crude has now risen 80% since it hit 13-year lows of below $28 a barrel at the start of the year.
By Harut Sassounian
The California Courier
A decade ago, two Turkish Islamist leaders — Recep Erdogan (now President) and prominent Sunni cleric Fethullah Gulen — were the best of friends. Their common enemy was the Turkish military. But as Erdogan solidified his dictatorial rule by castrating the generals, he turned against his old ally, Gulen, to monopolize his grip on power. Erdogan purged and jailed hundreds of Gulen followers: journalists, judges, police, and state officials.
To expand its global investigation into the activities of Gulen-led organizations, the Turkish government hired, for $50,000 a month, the London-based law firm of Amsterdam and Partners. The law firm will also provide legal advice on the Erdogan regime’s request for Gulen’s extradition from his self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.
“We have been retained by the Republic of Turkey to expose allegedly unlawful conduct by the Gulen network worldwide,” stated Robert Amsterdam, founding partner of Amsterdam & Partners LLP, during a recent press conference in Washington DC. “The activities of the Gulen network, including its penetration of the Turkish judiciary and police, as well as its political lobbying abroad, should concern everyone who cares about the future of democracy in Turkey.”
The high-powered lawyer’s insincere lament regarding “the future of democracy in Turkey,” is preposterous, as Erdogan himself has single-handedly demolished all vestiges of democracy in Turkey!
In a recent press release, Amsterdam claimed that “The Gulen network, which operates more than 100 charter schools in the U.S., has become the subject of federal and local law enforcement and regulatory investigation in the United States. According to separate cases filed against Gulen-affiliated schools, the group has allegedly engaged in systemic abuse of the American visa system.” The lawyer representing Turkey also asserted: “Globally, the Gulen network operates thousands of schools and has an agreement with the African Union to open 1,000 new schools in the region.”
Erdogan’s long arm has now reached all the way into Texas, going after Harmony Public Schools, the largest charter school system based in Houston, which has 30,000 students and operates under various Gulen-affiliated non-profit organizations.
Last November, Amsterdam and Partners filed a 90-item public information request that would cost Harmony $4.5 million to complete. Even after the lengthy list was shortened, it would still cost Harmony $690,000 to compile and provide that information. The Texas Attorney General will now have to decide the appropriateness of the Turkish request.
This week, Amsterdam and Partners is expected to file a 30-page complaint with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) against Harmony schools. Jim Arnold, an Austin-based lobbyist, also hired by Turkey, sent an e-mail to the Texas Governor’s office stating that the complaint “will outline a series of allegations concerning Harmony’s financial operations as well as their alleged misconduct, and request a comprehensive investigation by TEA.”
In response, Soner Tarim, chief executive officer and co-founder of Harmony Public Schools, told the Houston Chronicle that the targeting of his schools by the Turkish government is “mind-boggling and politically motivated.”
Meanwhile, Amsterdam and Partners has filed similar complaints against the Gulen-affiliated Magnolia Charter Schools in California, “urging the California Department of Education to conduct a full investigation of the charter network’s financial practices,” according to the Houston Chronicle.
In a strongly-worded letter, Cong. Brad Sherman complained about the Turkish government’s attacks on Magnolia Charter Schools: “President Erdogan is a repudiation of everything that good American schools stand for. He has personally done tremendous damage to democracy in the Republic of Turkey.” Cong. Sherman also wrote in his April 26 letter that “Amsterdam & Partners was being paid $600,000 a year to disparage Magnolia Public Schools” and that “at various times, President Erdogan’s government has assisted ISIS. Accordingly, I cannot think of a worse source of information about American education than President Erdogan and his paid agents,” the Houston Chronicle reported.
Tarim told the Houston newspaper that regretfully “The Turkish government is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless time attacking these American schools, forcing Harmony to match the effort. The money and energy would be better spent on students.”
Armenian-Americans can sit back and watch with great interest this costly and scandalous court battle between the Turkish government and Gulen’s organization. Let them waste their money and energy by fighting each other rather than wining and dining U.S. officials on all-expense paid extravagant junkets to Turkey and lobbying members of Congress against Armenian issues!