Author: Kevo Kalantarian

Russian PM feels normal, receives anti-coronavirus treatment – spokesperson

Kevo Kalantarian

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 12:49, 5 May, 2020

YEREVAN, MAY 5, ARMENPRESS. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who has contracted the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), is feeling normal in general and is receiving treatment as scheduled, his spokesman Boris Belyakov said on Tuesday.

“Mikhail Vladimirovich is staying in one of state medical facilities under doctors’ supervision. He is feeling normal in general. The treatment is going on as scheduled, using the drugs recommended by the Health Ministry for patients to cure this disease. The prime minister is actively contacting with his colleagues by phone”, the spokesman said.

On April 30, Mishustin said during a video conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he had tested positive for the coronavirus and had to self-isolate. Putin wished him a speedy recovery and signed a decree appointing First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov to serve as Acting Prime Minister.

Forecast: In case of a phased settlement, terrorists will take the place of Artsakh people

Kevo Kalantarian
Arminfo, Armenia
April 30 2020

ArmInfo. The implementation of a  phased plan to resolve the conflict around Artsakh will lead to a  mass outflow of the people of Artsakh, former chief of the General  Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, Lieutenant General Norat  Ter-Grigoryants, expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.

"This will be a real crime, a continuation of the crime against the  Armenian people that began in 1988. As a result, not the previous  residents will settle in these territories but terrorists, including  ISIS, criminals of all kinds, representatives of special services,  and other people from similar categories. "This is exactly what  Turkey is seeking, this is the essence of its modern policy. We  perfectly see this on the example of Syria," he emphasized.  

Commenting on the vision of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov  regarding a phased settlement of the conflict, the general noted that  the surrender of seven districts to Azerbaijan has been talked about  for a long time.  Baku and Ankara are forcing mediators to this, and  judging by Lavrov's latest statement, both Russia and the other  co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group are gradually inclining  to this.  On April 21, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov  described the document adopted in April 2019 at a meeting of the  Foreign Ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow as the  most important step in implementing the UN Security Council  resolution on the Karabakh settlement. "These documents suggest  progress in a settlement based on a phased approach. I believe that  at the first stage, the solution of the most pressing problems, the  liberation of a number of areas around Nagorno-Karabakh and the  unblocking of transport, economic and other communications, "he said.   Meanwhile, the surrender of any Artsakh territories will become,  according to Ter-Grigoryants, a continuation of the pogroms of the  Armenian population in Sumgait and Baku. According to his forecasts,  this is Azerbaijan's goal after failing to expel the Artsakh people  from Artsakh in the early 1990s.

However  not being able to achieve this even by war, Baku is trying  to get the Armenians to leave Artsakh by means of negotiations, in  particular, the phased plan.  Ter-Grigoryants considers that Russia's  interest in the phased settlement plan is determined by the close  cooperation of Moscow and the veiled beneficiary of this plan-Ankara.  "Pipes, gas, oil are just a part of this cooperation. I never  understood or shared Russia's desire to strengthen Turkey. Especially  considering that Russia's ally Armenia stands on the other side of  the barricades at the throat of Pan-Turkist projects," the general  emphasized. 

"The threat of another aggression of Azerbaijan has not disappeared.  The enemy continues to arm himself. The authorities are spreading  hatred towards the Armenian people, preparing the population for a  new war.  In this light, we need to continue the process of acquiring  the latest weapons. I only welcome Prime Minister Pashinyan in this  matter. At the same time, the existing weapons should not be  discounted. This is not junk, they need to be improved, the level of  use, the level of control of these weapons should be improved. All  these measures will increase our combat readiness and, therefore,  reduce the likelihood of war ", Ter-Grigoryants summarized.

Deputy PM Avinyan has not resigned – spokesperson denies rumors

Kevo Kalantarian

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 14:37, 30 April, 2020

YEREVAN, APRIL 30, ARMENPRESS. Vahan Hunanyan, spokesman to Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Avinyan, denies the rumors according to which Avinyan has resigned.

The spokesperson said on Facebook that Tigran Avinyan has not resigned and has no such plans.

“As the media outlets, which are close to fake news, and some users applauding them, continue living in the world of fantasies, try to present what they wish as a reality, I once again want to state that Deputy Prime Minister, Commandant of the State of Emergency Tigran Avinyan has not resigned and doesn’t have any such plans”, Hunanyan said.

Earlier today former staffer at the PM’s administration Gevorg Achemyan announced on Facebook about the resignation of deputy PM Tigran Avinyan.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Remembering my grandfather Vartan, a survivor of the Armenian genocide

Kevo Kalantarian
The Loop, Canada
                        Remembering Vartan Nersessian, a survivor of the Armenian genocide, on the 105th anniversary of this grim milestone, through the words of his translated memoirs.

"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" Adolf Hitler is quoted as saying in historical accounts.

The truth is grim. Few people speak of the genocide of 1915 during which Armenians perished at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

Some 105 years after the Armenians were rounded up; the bones of the dead have long since been scattered to the winds — but their memory lingers on in my family.

Like many Armenian-Canadians, I was a child when I first heard about the genocide. My grandfather, Vartan Nersessian, was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 — the survivor from his family. He died before I was born, but after unearthing his handwritten memoirs and translating them with my father, I heard his story in his own words.

In 2005, when I asked Nobel laureate and Holocaust scholar Elie Wiesel to write a piece to accompany the translation of these memoirs, he responded that he was overwhelmed with work and travel and added: "I admire your sense of urgency in working to ensure that past horrors — the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, or any other dark time in history — are not forgotten….please know that I continue to defend Armenians' memory." Wiesel died in 2016. May they both rest in peace.

This was first published 15 years ago. I’ve resurrected it today, on the 105th anniversary of the genocide.

Vartan Nersessian was born Vartan Giragosian in the small village of Frnouz. But he grew up in a village called Gouchogh. In 1915, the village was a part of Zeitoun, a town of 7,000, incorporating surrounding mountainous villages in Ottoman Armenia, today’s modern-day Turkey.

By 1875, several families had settled there and a church and school were built. By 1915, there were about 60 homes and 350 villagers in total.

My grandfather’s recounting of his story begins when he is a young boy of 7 or 8 and the Ottoman soldiers enter his village.

It was around Easter, a time of celebration for the devout Christian community.

“Six days after Easter on a Saturday night, about 400 soldiers came to Gouchogh and entered some houses. They didn’t tell us that they would expel us, fearing that we would tell people from Frnouz and other villages who might take up arms.”

Some of the families decided to brave the mountain conditions and flee. My grandfather’s family was one of them, but they abandoned that plan when they realized his father was too ill to walk more than 20 metres at any given time.

The decision was simple, the family would stick together. But “Sunday morning, we too were forced to go with the caravan,” he wrote.

They set out with some food, a blanket and a horse for Vartan’s father to ride on.

The family’s 200-strong goat herd had been taken.

The caravan of displaced Armenians travelled, sometimes by train, more often on foot, stopping only to add to the crowd of those exiled.

“In Konya, they took us to a mosque and kept all our beds, blankets and furniture from us. For four nights we slept without blankets. The children were weeping, ‘Mayrig, g’mrseem, hatz gouzem.’ (Mother, I'm cold, I want bread.) Finally, the fathers and mothers gave in to the despair and starting crying themselves. What could they do? There was nothing to give their children.”

Four days later, they set out again. This time the men were forced to walk on foot while the soldiers beat them. Among those men were Vartan’s father and brother Dyeuvlet.

Yet they still hoped that they would be permitted to return to their homes. Instead, they were forced to continue onward to Syria.

But, there was death every step of the way.

“Hundreds of Armenians were buried – so many that we buried 8-10 bodies just in one ditch. I even saw it with my own eyes. My little sister was also sick and my mother had made a makeshift swing to rock her so that she would sleep. She asked me, ‘Can you check if she is sleeping or awake?’ I told her that her eyes were open. My mother ran immediately toward her and began crying. She was dead, apparently, but I hadn’t understood. A few days later my brother Dyeuvlet also died, and we buried him with some other bodies. Not another two days passed and my father’s brother also died…And of those who remained alive, we got up and kept travelling toward Aleppo. Our money finished, my father sold our horse…. My little brother Setrak and my little sister Arshalouise died there too. My father, mother, two brothers and my sister were left.

“From Aleppo, one part of the people was sent to Der Zor –, they killed almost all of them. As for us, they sent us to Damascus by train.”

They were taken to several other towns on their journey by 1916, they arrived in a town called Latakya.

“Until 1918, we lived from here and there. Sometimes in the villages, sometimes we went to the towns…And in the beginning of 1919, we went to Alexandria on a ship. My father died in Latakya.”

It’s unclear how he died. However, Vartan remained on the move and ended up in the southern town of Marash.

“In Marash, we stayed for a while…we wanted to return to our villages but the English government told us not to go. But we didn’t listen to them and left. We wanted to tend to our farms and gardens. And everyone returned to his village.”

In a few months’ time, they had a herd of cows, bulls and goats together and enough food to last them through the winter. Eight months passed and soon, word of renewed violence against Armenians came to the village.

“Near us, understanding that Gouchogh was without protection, the Turkish peasants started to rise up. We understood that things were beginning to stir, so we decided to move to Zeitoun.”

This undated photo shows the mountainous region of Zeitoun. (WikiMapia)

Suddenly word came from a nearby village that the Armenians should hide in the caves and Vartan’s family took shelter once again.

One morning, when Vartan and his family members were chopping walnuts and onions for their noon-time meal, they heard a noise from outside the cave.

“My brother rushed outside and just as suddenly returned. My mother asked:‘Dghas Markar, eench gah?’ (My son, Markar, what is it?) He told her that nothing was wrong so as not to incite fear in the household. But all the same, he took the gun from the wall and rushed outside.”

Although Vartan was recuperating from an illness, he became restless and ran outside to see what was going on.

“From our side, only Mikael Seyrekian, Panos Karageuzian, and Khacher Jumbulian fired their guns while from the enemy side, hundreds of guns fired.”

Vartan fled with his friend Hovnan.

“We were unsure what to do. Confused, we stopped in our tracks. Then a few people joined us. One of us noticed that someone was approaching from below… We could see the footprints in the snow. We were trying to determine this but before we even finished speaking, suddenly from behind a graveyard, five to six people emptied their guns on us, attacking us.”

The boys ran for their lives through deep snow.

“A few times I fell and I was buried in the snow, I thought that I was struck by a bullet because they were falling like hail. My friends ran ahead and I was left alone. I was the smallest from my friends — and weak. They didn’t look for me and I was left much behind and lost them.

Vartan followed the path his friends had made in the snow.

“From my fatigue, my throat was dry and it closed up, like I was choking. I thought if I swallowed some snow, it would not only wet my throat but that it would serve as Holy Communion if I were to die. It wet my throat and I felt a bit stronger and I quickened my journey.

“I thought to myself: if I stay here I won’t be able to help anyone nor save myself. I thought that I should find the path to Hinkegh to bring news.”

On his path, he arrived upon a small cave and deliberated whether to enter it or not.

“I figured I might end up as the meal for a wild animal such as a bear or a pig. That would be better, I thought, than to die in the hands of the enemy. I entered and after resting a bit, my resolve on behalf of my people did not let me delay and I kept going.”

Upon approaching the nearby village, he came upon some relatives and neighbours who told him word had already reached them, and that his mother had been shot, and killed.

“And upon hearing my mother was struck, I started yelling, crying. From the mountains, my voice echoed.”

But there was no time to dwell on her death.

Vartan joined a group of men who returned to one of Zeitoun’s villages at night.

“As dark is falling, they saw that those who have fled have escaped, and the rest have been massacred,” he wrote.

Vartan’s memoir ends here. What happened in the days that followed is unclear. The rest of the story has been pieced together by what he told his children and his wife – in those rare moments when he spoke of his past.

French missionaries took him to Zahleh, Lebanon where he was placed in an orphanage and learned the skills of a cobbler.

When he was asked what his last name was, he didn’t know. There were so many people in his village with the Giragosian surname that they often called each other by their first names or nicknames. When he told the orphanage officials that he was called “Nerses’ Vartan”, or Nerses’ grandson Vartan, they named him Vartan Nersessian.

Later, he found out his family name was Giragosian but the name stuck anyway.

Sometime around 1924, after leaving the orphanage, Vartan arrived in Jerusalem, then Palestine. He was about 16. Vartan began working at the St. James Monastery in the Armenian Quarter where he was in charge of the storeroom and kitchen supplies.

Eventually, he met and married my grandmother Mariam Hanessian, 14 years his junior. At 22, she became a mother to Gadarine, who was named after my grandfather’s slain mother.

His second-born, my father Yeghia, was named after my grandfather’s father.

The family continued to grow. Another 6 children would be born, sadly one of them would die in infancy.

But there was a hole in his heart. He never found the brother he hoped was alive and he looked for him until the end of his days.

Then in 1973, at the age of 65, Vartan was crossing the road on an errand for work when he was struck by a vehicle and died.

One of the first things his children did after his death was to open a drawer he had always kept under lock and key. As children, they had not been permitted to open the drawer and so they always imagined that he had stashed a small fortune.

They did find a treasure, but not of the type they had imagined. Instead they found the cup, plate, and spoon that he kept from his days in the orphanage, and the handwritten pages of his memoirs.

COVID19 updates: Iran overtakes China with most confirmed cases

Kevo Kalantarian

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 17:14,

YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) around the world has reached 2 million 423 thousand 634, according to the data released by coronavirus research centers.

The death toll is over 166,000.

636,187 patients have recovered.

US is leading in the world in terms of the largest number of infected people (764,265 confirmed cases). 40,565 deaths were reported.

Then comes Spain which confirmed 200,210 cases so far. The total number of deaths in Spain is 20,852.

Spain is followed by Italy which reported a total of 178,972 cases. 23,660 patients have died.

The next is France, overtaking Germany, with a total of 152,894 cases and 19,718 deaths.

Germany has confirmed 145,743 cases and 4,642 deaths.

Germany is followed by the UK which reported 120,067 confirmed cases and 16,060 deaths.

Turkey overtook China and confirmed 86,306 cases. The deaths comprise 2,017.

Iran as well surpassed China with the most confirmed cases, as 83,505 cases have been registered. 5,209 people have died in Iran from coronavirus.

China, where the COVID-19 outbreak started, confirmed a total of 82,747 cases. The death toll here is 4,632.

China is followed by Russia where the number of confirmed cases has reached 47,121 and the death toll is 405.

Belgium confirmed 39,983 cases, Brazil – 39,144, Canada – 35,056, the Netherlands – 33,405.

Georgia confirmed 399 cases of coronavirus and 4 deaths.

Among the Arab states the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has the largest number of confirmed cases – 6,781. 41 death cases have been registered here. Qatar confirmed 6,015 cases and 9 deaths. Egypt reported 3,144 confirmed cases and 239 deaths. Iraq confirmed 1,539 cases and 82 deaths. Syria’s confirmed cases reached 39. 3 death cases have been registered.

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global pandemic and named the virus COVID-19. 

According to the data of the World Health Organization, coronavirus cases have been confirmed in more than 210 countries and territories.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




Erdogan phones Sahak II of Constantinople amid coronavirus outbreak

Kevo Kalantarian

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 13:27, 9 April, 2020

YEREVAN, APRIL 9, ARMENPRESS. Patriarch Sahak II Mashalian of Constantinople and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation amid the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a news release issued by the patriarchate.

During the April 8 telephone conversation, President Erdogan asked Sahak II about the state of affairs of the patriarchate and the Turkish-Armenian community, according to the news release.

Erdogan thanked the patriarch for the latter’s contribution in the fundraiser-campaign for the coronavirus response, according to the news release.

The Turkish president told the Patriarch that he has facilitated the possibility of return of Armenian nationals to Armenia, referring to the 100 Armenian citizens who are being transported by land from Istanbul.

The Armenian government has ensured the leasing of the vehicles, but due to the closed borders with Turkey the buses will travel via Georgian territory, which required permission from Turkish and Georgian authorities.

According to the news release, Erdogan has expressed willingness to assist Armenia with the provision of medication.

Erdogan wished Sahak II good health and also inquired about the needs of the Turkish-Armenian community. Sahak II wished peace and good health to the Turkish president.

 

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan




Maragha massacres are crime with no statute of limitations: Artsakh MFA issues statement

Kevo Kalantarian

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 13:40,

YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Artsakh issued a statement on the 28th anniversary of the massacre of Armenians in Maragha.

Armenpress presents the statement:

“Today marks the 28th anniversary of the massacre of civilians of the Armenian settlement of Maragha, Martakert region of the Republic of Artsakh, committed by the armed forces of Azerbaijan. The massacre in Maragha is an unprecedented war crime committed by the Republic of Azerbaijan, on the basis of hatred against Armenians aimed at the annihilation of the Armenian population.

On April 10, 1992, after several hours of shelling, the Azerbaijani armed units invaded Maragha. Prior to this, a significant part of the population was evacuated, but the people who remained in the village, were subjected to inhuman torture and massacre by the Azerbaijani servicemen. The self-defense forces of Artsakh managed to liberate Maragha, but two weeks later, the Azerbaijani troops attacked the settlement again and committed new crimes against the civilians who had returned to bury their relatives.

Maragha was captured by the Azerbaijani armed forces and to this day is under the occupation of Azerbaijan. According to various data, including the reports of the human rights organizations Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, as a result of the war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces in Maragha over 50 civilians, including 30 women, were brutally killed. About 50 more people, including 29 women and 9 children, were taken captive, and the fate of 19 civilians is still unknown.

As testified by Member and former Vice Speaker of the House of Lords of Great Britain, human rights activist Baroness Caroline Cox, who visited the village with representatives of the organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide immediately after the tragedy, the bodies of the brutally murdered residents of Maragha were dismembered, mutilated, and burned. Lady Cox called Maragha “contemporary Golgotha many times over”.

The massacre of Armenians of Maragha became another manifestation of the consistent policy of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Azerbaijani authorities against the Armenian people, first in Sumgait, Baku and other settlements of Azerbaijan in 1988-1990, and later in Northern Artsakh. The fact that commander of the Azerbaijani armed units Taghiyev Shahin Taliboglu, who had committed the massacre in Maragha, was awarded the title of national hero of Azerbaijan testifies that the responsibility for this crime lies entirely with the Azerbaijani authorities.

The impunity of the crimes committed by Azerbaijan against Armenians and the lack of an adequate political and legal assessment by the international community created favorable conditions for rooting an atmosphere of hatred towards Armenians and all Armenian at the state level in Azerbaijan. 24 years later, in April 2016, during the aggression unleashed against Artsakh, Azerbaijan attempted to use the same methods to carry out new genocidal acts in Artsakh that were prevented by the decisive actions of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh.

The massacres of civilians in Maragha are a crime against humanity with no statute of limitations, and they must be condemned by the international community, and their organizers and executors must be justly punished.

Today we bow our heads in commemoration of the victims of the massacre in Maragha and assure that the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh will take all measures to guarantee the inalienable right of the people of Artsakh to live freely and safely in its homeland”.

Parliamentary committee invites Armenia 3rd President to hearings

Kevo Kalantarian
News.am, Armenia
April 6 2020

16:04, 06.04.2020
                  

The Office of the 3rd President of Armenia has received a letter stating that Serzh Sargsyan has been invited to hearings to be held by the special parliamentary committee set up for inquiry into the circumstances of the military operations that took place in April 2016, and the hearings will be held on either the 13th or 16th of April, and Serzh Sargsyan can choose the date, as reported representative of the Office of the 3rd President of Armenia Mary Harutyunyan.

The letter was sent by chairman of the committee Andranik Kocharyan.

In response to ’s question if Serzh Sargsyan has accepted the invitation, Harutyunyan stated that Serzh Sargsyan has nothing to hide from the public, especially when it comes to the Four-Day Artsakh War, which ended with victory.

https://news.am/eng/news/570744.html

Armenian official: Citizens are more interested in culture during crisis

Kevo Kalantarian
News.am, Armenia
April 7 2020

15:44, 07.04.2020
                  

Recently, citizens of Armenia have been showing more interest in culture, and it is the government’s objective to do everything possible to accelerate the pace. This is what Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Armenia Arayik Khzmalyan told reporters today.

He emphasized that from March 17 to April 5, six plays of the Armenian National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet named after Alexander Spendiaryan have been broadcast on Facebook with over 840,000 views, and the number of subscribers of the Theater has increased by 5,000.

“Other theaters and cultural institutions, including Sundukyan Theater and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, are also active. The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport is also launching a program for young talents and the program for 14 animated films,” Khzmalyan stated.

The deputy minister also clarified that international projects have been affected the most by the restrictions, including the programs for international days in Armenia and days of Armenia in foreign countries.

Armenian President and spouse offer condolences to Levon Aronian over death of his wife

Kevo Kalantarian

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 13:12, 31 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian and spouse Nouneh Sarkissian offered condolences to chess grandmaster Levon Aronian over the death of his wife, Arianne Caoili, the President’s Office said on Facebook.

“Dear Levon, we are facing an indescribable pain: the loss of your wife, Arianne Caoili, is immeasurable. Knowing you and Arianne quite well, we knew that you are not a type of persons to surrender. And Arianne was fighting until the very last moment…I and Nouneh, and also our people for sure, stand by you with sincere words of sorrow. Rest In Peace, dear Arianne! Stay firm, dear Levon!” the statement says.

Australian chess player Arianne Caoili, the wife of Armenian chess grandmaster Levon Aronian, has died in Yerevan, Armenia on March 31 at the age of 33.

Two weeks ago Arianne suffered a serious injury in a car crash in Yerevan and was hospitalized.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan