Author: Lara Antonian

During his working visit to the Republic of Artsakh, the President of the Republic of Armenia, Commander-in-Chief of the RA Armed Forces Serzh Sargsyan today met in Shushi the soldiers demobilized in 2017 as well as the ones still in service.
Moreover, he had meetings with the couple of demobilized officers and with the group of military servants who demonstrated courage and valor during their service. The President was accompanied by the RA Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan as well as by the legendary soldiers such as Lieutenant General Norat Ter-Grigoryants and Major General Arkadi Ter-Tadevosyan, whose path can serve as an example for the current military servicemen.

During this traditional format of the meeting, the President proposed soldiers to speak openly about their concerns, ideas on the defense sector modernization, reforms, further strengthening and development of the homeland and to come up with suggestions. Serzh Sargsyan expressed his willingness to answer questions given by the participants of the meeting, listen to the opinions of soldiers on the ideas such as “Pativ unem (I have an honor)” and “Es em (It’s me)” proposed earlier by the Minister of Defense.

“It was after the first meeting when the idea to make these meetings regular was born, hoping that the conversation previously taken place in Dilijan on January will have its further development and last in the same way. This enables us, from one perspective to use these meetings as an incentive, because the probability is quite low for many of you to meet such people as Komandos, Norat Ter-Grigoryants in real life, and from another perspective, it gives us an opportunity to focus on the issues and circumstances that might not be visible for us at first sight, for example the comfort of your uniform, weapons integrity and combat readiness issues.

Today is a very memorable day for all of us, because if not this day 25 years ago we would not be able to sit here and we would have already lost the Artsakh world, because the liberation of Shushi allowed us to fully mobilize our forces, become “nation-army”, reach completely liberated Karabakh and at least ensure the safety of those who live here.

Nowadays, many try to interpret, some of them from the positive viewpoint and some from the negative, others somewhat ironic, the idea proposed by the Minister of Defense, in other words the idea of “nation-army.” The ones who do not fully grasp the very essence of this idea I will advise to interact with the people who took active participation in the liberation war, regardless whether they were part of the armed forces or they lived civil life.
I want you, while assessing the merits of others and the merits of the ones who have made our victory possible, also to assess your merits, because if it were not for you and soldiers before you, it is obvious, that the victories of the older generation would not cost even a penny. Victory is a victory when you can maintain it. Assessing your merits you should be claimant and active in order our country to develop, have an opportunity to keep its armed forces and equip armor”, – President said at the beginning of the meeting.

The Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan presented to the RA President and participants of the meeting another project named “Ditaket (Outlook)” being implemented in the framework of the modernization and reforms of the defense sector. According to the Minister, this project will address all the existing problems units-by-units with the participation of demobilized servicemen, give solutions to them and ensure maximum transparency and accountability in the army.

The President welcomed and stressed the importance of the project’s contribution. He also instructed to report him periodically about the project results for him to be able to make conclusions.

Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio has applauded creators of the Armenian Genocide film The Promise. 

“Oscar Isaac, Christian Bale and Charlotte Le Bon, under the direction of Terry George, provide extraordinary performances in the upcoming film The Promise,” DiCaprio said in a Facebook post.

“I applaud the entire team, together with my good friend the legendary producer Mike Medavoy, whose enduring talent, dedication and commitment brought this important project and subject to life,” teh actor added.

Set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, “The Promise” is an epic human drama about a love triangle between Michael Boghosian, a brilliant medical student played by Golden Globe winning actor Oscar Isaac, the beautiful and sophisticated Armenian artist Ana played by Charlotte le Bon, and Chris Myers, a renowned American photo-journalist covering the war played by Oscar-winning actor Christian Bale.

The film is also supported by an impressive cast of international actors. Their relationships unfold amidst the start of the Armenian Genocide, causing major upheaval of their lives and a struggle just to survive.

The Promise hits theaters April 21.

Today President of Armenia, Commander-in-Chief of teh Armed Forces Serzh Sargsyan, accompanied by Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan and the Senior Officers of the Armed Forces visited “Yerablur” Military Pantheon to pay respect for the memory of modern day heroes, who lost their lives selflessly for the defense of borders during the April war, and for the memory of all the young Armenians who lost their lives for the sake of independence of the Motherland during the Artsakh war.

The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative in cooperation with Scholae Mundi Armenia will grant scholarships to students from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt to study at the American University of Armenia (AUA). This scholarship fund (US $1 mln) is created as part of the Aurora Gratitude Projects.

The scholarships are for citizens of the above-mentioned countries, who wish to pursue the following degrees: BSc in Computer Science, Engineering Science, Data Science (starting 2018), Master of Public Health, Master of Engineering in Industrial Engineering & Systems Management, Master of Science in Computer & Information Science, Economics, Strategic Management, Master of Political Science & International Affairs, and Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

“Armenia has a potential to become a global educational hub and we encourage the engagement of young people from the Middle East to come and study in Armenia. This scholarship offers opportunities to talented youth who have been affected, directly or indirectly, by wars in their region. We believe that it makes an impact not only on these young people who come to the country and benefit from its hospitality and qualitative education but enrich AUA community with highly motivated international students who will become ambassadors of Armenia and its culture in the future. The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, thus not only offers scholarships to individual students, but also expresses gratitude to the nations who were the first to open their doors to offer a helping hand to the survivors of the Armenian Genocide,” said Veronika Zonabend, the co-founder of Scholae Mundi Armenia Foundation, and together with her husband Ruben Vardanyan, co-founder of the RVVZ Foundation which helped create the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and the Aurora Gratitude Projects.

“The American University of Armenia is extremely grateful to the creators of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, specifically Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend, who through their immense generosity have created an opportunity not only for students from the countries that hosted Armenian refugees from the Genocide to study in Armenia, but also afforded AUA an opportunity to serve these students. Their presence on our campus will provide enhanced diversity and enrich the lives of all students. We are proud to be a part of this initiative and, through our educational programs, be able to express gratitude to the descendants of the people who sheltered Armenians during the most tragic part of their history,” said Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian, President of the American University of Armenia.

The recipients will continue to receive the scholarships throughout their study at AUA as long as they are in good academic standing. The scholarship will cover tuition fees, travel and housing costs of the students. The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and Scholae Mundi Armenia have committed to granting the scholarship through the year 2023.

Scholae Mundi Armenia Foundation continues to support the Aurora Gratitude Scholarship program which initiates humanitarian and educational projects to help children, refugees and other vulnerable citizens in the Middle East. On behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors, the descendants of the survivors of the Genocide transform their gratitude into action by helping with educational initiatives and scholarships, grants to humanitarian projects and promoting public awareness of humanitarian efforts. The scholarship programs of the Aurora Gratitude Projects are valued at US $7 million.

Photo: Reuters

 

Iraqi forces have entered a neighbourhood in West Mosul for the first time since launching an operation to retake it from so-called Islamic State (IS) five days ago, the BBC reports.

It comes a day after troops retook the city’s airport from IS.

The army’s assault takes them from desert and farmland into a densely packed city, where fighting is expected to be particularly hard.

IS are dug into the west after being driven out of eastern Mosul last month.

Iraqi forces carried out heavy air strikes overnight ahead of the ground attack on the city itself.

There has been an offer to organize a meeting between Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers later this month, Spokesperson for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.

“The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs have offered to organize a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference,” Tigran Balayan told Tert.am.

“As Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said at a press conference earlier this month, let’s wait and see what gambles Azerbaijan tries this time,” Balayan said.

AFP Photo/Oli SCARFF

 

AFP – Henrikh Mkhitaryan insists Manchester United are taking all four competitions they are involved in seriously as they struggle to cope with a demanding fixture schedule.

Jose Mourinho’s club is the only one in England still retaining an interest in a quartet of competitions — the Premier League, Europa League, FA Cup and the League Cup, in which they can look forward to a Wembley final against Southampton next month.

Their success means United could face as many as 67 games, should they advance to the finals of the other two cup competitions, and has led Mourinho to criticise the English fixture schedule as “nonsense”.

But after a weekend in which a number of Premier League teams were eliminated from the FA Cup after choosing weakened line-ups, Mkhitaryan claimed United want to succeed in every tournament.

“We are taking all the competitions seriously,” he said. “For Manchester United, every cup is very important.

“A trophy is a trophy. It doesn’t matter if it is the League Cup, the FA Cup or the Europa League. We want to do our best to try to win them all.”

A petition to stop US President Donald Trump’s UK state visit has gathered more than a million signatures, the BBC reports.

Numbers of signatories have been rising rapidly since a US clampdown on immigration came into effect over the weekend, causing anger worldwide.

PM Theresa May announced the visit during her recent US trip. Downing Street has rejected calls for it to be cancelled as a “populist gesture.”

On Saturday afternoon the petition had just 60 signatures but reached 100,000 needed to be considered for debate by Parliament just after midday on Sunday.

MPs will discuss the debate on Tuesday.

South Korea’s special prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant for Samsung heir apparent Lee Jae-yong, accused of bribery, embezzlement and perjury, the BBC reports.

The case is linked to a scandal that led to the impeachment of the country’s President Park Geung-hye.

Samsung is accused of giving donations to non-profit foundations operated by Choi Soon-sil, a friend of Ms Park, in exchange for government favours.

The firm said the issuing of the arrest warrant was “hard to understand”.

Seoul Central District Court must now decide whether to go ahead and issue the warrant.

If this happened, Mr Lee would be the first executive to be arrested in connection to the scandal.

He is currently vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, but since his father, Lee Kun-hee, suffered a heart attack in 2014, he is considered de facto boss of the entire Samsung Group conglomerate.

Deputy Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Valery Semerikov started fulfilling the duties of the post-Soviet security bloc’s chief on Sunday, CSTO Press Service reports.

The term of CSTO Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha expired on December 31, 2016.

Bordyuzha had been the CSTO Secretary-General since 2003. At the organization’s Moscow summit in December 2015, a decision was made to extend Bordyuzha’s term until January 1, 2017.

In late December, Bordyuzha said the issue on the new chief of the organization would be solved in April 2017 at the meeting of the CSTO Council.