Author: Karapet Navasardian

France’s Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Désir visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial today.

He laid flowers at the memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims and  toured the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute accompanied by its Director Hayk Demoyan.

Harlem Désir has arrived in Armenia to participate in the 31st Ministerial Conference of the Francophonie October 10-11.

 

A local court in Istanbul held a new hearing on Sept. 29 in a case opened upon a complaint from the leader of Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate about a man who allegedly identified himself as a Prime Ministry inspector and then requested a bribe of 6,000 Turkish Liras, the reports.

In July, Aram Atesyan, the acting head of the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey, filed the complaint against Kemal Tayfun Nargin, who identified himself as an inspector of the Prime Ministry’s General Directorate of National Estates.

At the Sept. 29 hearing at the Istanbul 16th Heavy Penal Court, Nargin denied that he identified himself as an inspector and said he was expelled from the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in March 2012.

Nargin admitted that he, along with three other people, visited Atesyan and asked for documents about the historic Sansaryan Han building in Istanbul’s Eminönü district. The building was set to be given to the Armenian community as part of the ongoing return of various properties, and Nargin said he was with the group because the other three – one of whom is a MIT official – did not speak Armenian.

He also said Atesyan handed over the documents but denied that he had taken any money from Atesyan. He also claimed that footage on security cameras of their meeting was deleted immediately after the meeting.

The court ruled to ask the MIT whether Nargin was employed during or before the date of the alleged crime and postponed the hearing.

Nargin is charged with “aggravated fraud” and faces up to seven years in jail.

Atesyan alleges that the suspect arrived at the patriarch demanding a “gift” to finalize the return of the Sansaryan Han to the Armenian community. Nargin called the patriarch to arrange a meeting and had Atesyan fill out a form bearing the Prime Ministry logo before asking for a “gift” from the religious leader.

Atesyan said he gave him 3,000 liras, but Nargin found this amount inadequate, so Ateşyan gave a further 3,000 liras.

Pope Francis will enjoy lunch with homeless people in Washington DC after passing up the offer of a meal with politicians,  reports.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church arrived in the US on Tuesday for a six-day trip.

After addressing Congress, it is expected he will dine with around 300 of the capital’s homeless people in a tent set up outside St Patrick Catholic Church, .

he move highlights the Pope’s focus on social justice and his concerns over income inequality.

Armenian French singer Charles Aznavour opened his show in Paris with the song “The Migrants” on Tuesday, a strong show of support of the refugees crisis hitting Europe in recent months, reports.

“The song was written thirty years ago, but it remains news,” said the singer. “What is happening with the refugees has affected me very much, I imagine my parents in this situation, when they left Armenia to come to France. This is why I will always take the side of the ones who knock the doors, not the ones who shut them.”

Aznavour also affirmed he was willing to welcome refugees in his secondary residence, where he could easily set up a mobile home for them. “I would sacrifice without any problem a couple of olive trees,” he said jokingly to the daily Le Parisien.

He also called to remember what immigrants had brought to the French nation, mentionning the cases of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the Egyptian composer Guy Beart, and the Romanian Emil Cioran. “This is an extraordinary opportunity for France. There may be among them future Aznavours, who knows?” he added.

Over its presidency in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Armenia will pay special attention to the development of the peacekeeping component and strengthening of the CSTO defense, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on Tuesday at an extended meeting of the CSTO summit, TASS reports.

“Such tasks as further improvement of control over the collective security system, including collective regional forces, promptness in taking and implementing decisions, holding joint drills, such as the Opyt-2016 (Experience) exercises due in Armenia, are coming to the fore,” he said. “Of great importance is joint effort to develop the system of CSTO crisis management.”

The Armenian President stressed that over his country’s presidency in the CSTO “big attention will be also paid to the organization’s peacekeeping component.” “It is time to set up a basic organization to train CSTO peacekeepers,” Sargsyan said. “We suggest the center for training Armenian army’s peacekeeping brigade be considered as a base for such organization.”

“Our efforts should be rooted in due account of joint liabilities and opinions of the partners,” the Armenian president stressed. “Another topical task is to expand CSTO’s cooperation with the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).”

“The Armenian Presidency “will also focus on joint struggle against international terrorism and radicalism, neo-fascism, chauvinism and other expressions of xenophobia,” President Sargsyan told journalists following the summit of the CSTO member states in Tajikistan, President’s Press Office reported.

“In this context we attach importance to the intensification of joint efforts to tackle cybercrime,” the Armenian President said.

Armenia takes over presidency in the Collective Security Treaty Organization after today’s session of the CSTO Collective Security Council.

 

The delegation headed by Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan will leave for Grodno (Belarus) on September 8 to participate in the sitting of the Inter-Governmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Council, Government’s Press Service reports.

FAIR, French Armenian International Network, aims to promote economic
synergies between the business entrepreneurs of the Rhone-Alpes region and their
counterparts in Armenia for the creation of a regional hub providing access to the region’s
markets, such as Georgia, Iran, and other CIS countries.

The worldwide networking of FAIR, which is a recently created business association, shall
definitely include the still-untapped economic potential of the Armenian diaspora, from the
Middle-East countries to the Americas, as well as the countries of Eastern Europe and the
former Soviet Union.

The Rhône-Alpes Regional Parliament is set to host the official launching of FAIR in a
special ceremony on Wednesday, September 23, 2015.

The event is organized under the sponsorship of Raffi Haladjian, inventor of NABAZTAG
and a pioneer in the field of connected items and other state-of-the-art technologies.

A man who shot two journalists on live TV in the US state of Virginia has died after shooting himself, police say, the BBC reports.

Vester Lee Flanagan, 41, an ex-employee of WDBJ7 TV known professionally as Bryce Williams, was in a car that was surrounded by police following a chase.

WDBJ7 TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were killed some seven hours earlier during an interview in the town of Moneta.

The gunman later uploaded a video of himself opening fire at close range.

The White House has urged Congress to rapidly pass gun control laws in the wake of this latest shooting in the US.

Ani Mosinyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Krakow-Yerevan

36th EURORADIO Folk Festival was held in Krakow, Poland, from 8 to 11 July 2015. The 36^th EFF was organized jointly with the Polish Crossroads Festival under the common umbrella of EtnoKRAKOW 2015. All of this came into reality thanks to the cooperation of experienced and distinguished institutions that promote folk music: the Polskie Radio and the European Broadcasting Union, the Crossroads of Culture and Tradition Association, as well as the Krakow Festival Office and the City of Krakow.

EtnoKraków hosted over 200 musicians from 4 continents, who brought with them to Krakow the colors of their countries and cultures.

The Kroke trio, one of the finest groups on the Polish music scene and one of Europe’s most original ensembles, which had represented Poland at the Euroradio Folk Festival three years before, and India’s Zakir Hussain & Rakesh Chaurasia Duo were the honored guests to open the festival at Ice Cracow Congress Centre.

Among the representatives of the international world music scene were Kepa Junkera (Spain), Buda Folk Band (Hungary), Ensemble Sinawi (Korea), Arkady Shilkoper (Russia), Maria Kalaniemi (Finland) and others.

To watch the first part of the opening concert click here. For the  second part click

This year Armenia took part in the festival for the first time and was represented by Aram Merangulyan Folk Instruments Ensemble of Public Radio of Armenia. The Armenian concert took place on 9^th July, 18:30, Church of St. Catherine. For 45 minutes the attendees enjoyed the Armenian warmth. Among the audience there were many Armenian children, who got the chance to get acquainted with the Armenian culture and music.

All the concerts have been recorded by the Polish Radio and will be offered as EBU Pink offer throughout one year.