Author: Markos Nalchajian

The Freedom House ranks Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh as “partly free” in its Freedom in the World 2016 report.

Armenia’s neighbors Georgia and Turkey are also ‘partly free,’ while Azerbaijan and Iran are ranked as ‘not free.’

Armenia’s partners in the Eurasian Economic Union Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are listed among ‘not free’ countries. Kyrgyzstan is ranked as ‘partly free.’

Freedom in the World is an annual global report on political rights and civil liberties, composed of numerical ratings and descriptive texts for each country and a select group of related and disputed territories. The 2016 edition covers developments in 195 countries and 15 territories from January 1, 2015, through December 31, 2015.

Freedom in the World assesses the real-world rights and freedoms enjoyed by individuals, rather than governments or government performance per se. Political rights and civil liberties can be affected by both state and nonstate actors, including insurgents and other armed groups.

Laval’s 18-year-old Tina Garabedian, who has been with the Laval Figure Skating Club since she was four, along with her partner Simon Proulx-Senecal walked away with a bronze medal in Croatia last month at The Golden Spin of Zagreb tournament, according to .

“It was an amazing thing to see the Armenian flag raised,” Garabedian’s father John Garabedian said. “With tears in my eyes, I witnessed something I had not seen before. My mother nation’s flag slowly being raised alongside the Italian (first place) and the US flag (second place).”

Garabedian and Proulx-Senecal will be competing on Jan. 23 in the European Championships in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The duo hopes to be wearing the colours of Armenia in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Garabedian holds dual citizenship granted to her when the Armenian skating federation enthusiastically accepted that she represent the country at the international level.

“As a proud Armenian, she jumped at the opportunity to represent Armenia when her coach, Shawn Winters, suggested the idea. Tina is very proud of her heritage. She went to Armenian school up to the Grade 7 at École Armenienne Sourp Hagop,” the proud father boasted.

The duo has begun a fundraising campaign to raise money for their competitions.

“Each international competition costs between $6,000-10,000. With no support from Armenia we need to be self-financing,” John explained. “There are Armenians all over the world. We are trying to encourage them to support the team so they can make sure the Armenian flag stands out on the world stage. They did it in Zagreb and I am certain they can do it again.”

According to John, the website donation page has already collected over $5,000 from Los Angeles, Lebanon, Toronto, Yerevan and London.

Learn more about the team or donate to their Olympic dream on their Facebook page @Ice Dance Armenia or see their donation page at

– Hrant Dink will be commemorated in Turkey and abroad on the 9th anniversary of his death.

Istanbul

–  On January 19, starting from 14.30, Hrant Dink will be commemorated in front of the former building of Agos, where he was murdered.

–   AKA-DER, DISK BASINIS, Halkevleri, HDP İstanbul, Kaldıraç, Nor Zartonk, Yeniyol and ODP will march to Agos from Taksim on January 19, at 13.30. There will be a “justice watch” between 19.00 and 21.00 on the sidewalk where he was murdered.

Ankara

–   On January 18 at 18.30, DSIP will hold a meeting titled “From Hrant Dink to Tahir Elçi”.

–   On January 19 at 15.00, there will be a ceremony in front of Human Rights Statue in Yüksel Street. At 18.00, democratic mass organizations will make a statement to the press.

Bursa

– On January 19 at 19.00, people will march to Heykel from Setbaşı Mahfel.

Armenia

On January 19, Hrant Dink will be commemorated with a march in Armenian capital Yerevan.

There is also a petition campaign in Armenia in memory of Hrant Dink. During the commemoration ceremony, people will sign a petition for naming a street in Yerevan after Hrant Dink.

The commemoration notice reads: “Our society shouldn’t forget the crime committed against Hrant. In order to embalm Hrant, naming a street in Yerevan after him is really important for us. We are all Hrant and this is our duty of loyalty to him.”

Armenians are invited to attend the petition campaign at 17.00 and the march following it.

Germany

–    On January 19 at 18.00, there will be marching in Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg in memory of Hrant Dink.

–    There will be a concert in memory of Hrant Dink in Studio R in Berlin. Muammer Ketencoğlu, Stepan Gantralyan, Mareike Beykirch, Mehmet Yılmaz and Deniz Utlu will perform Armenian songs. The concert will start at 20.30.

Sweden

–    Hrant Dink will also be commemorated in Swedish capital Stockholm. In ABF House, there will be a memorial ceremony at 18.00.

Canada

– On January 24, ‘Voices in Dialogue” will commemorate Hrant Dink and Tahir Elçi in Ottawa. It will be start at 14.00.

France

– On February 6, L’ACORT, CRC, AEC-HCA and RSF will hold a joint event in memory of Hrant Dink. The meeting that is titled as “Being a journalist in Turkey: the value of truth” will be held in the City Hall of 10th arrondissement. The meeting will start at 19.00 and Rakel Dink, Can Dündar’s wife Dilek Dündar and Uğur Mumcu’s son Özgür Mumcu will attend this meeting.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan received today Charles Kupchan, Special Assistant to the U.S. President and National Security Council Senior Director for Europe.

President Sargsyan hailed the reciprocal high-level visits, which, he said, have a positive impact on the development of inter-state relations in all aspects.

Serzh Sargsyan stressed that the Armenian-American ties have been steadily developing ever since the establishment of diplomatic relations. He expressed gratitude to the United States for support to Armenia, which has resulted in achievements in different fields.

President Sargsyan attached importance to the continuous efforts of the US to contribute to Armenia’s economic development, implementation of reforms, advancement of democracy and civil society, as well as establishment of stability in the region.

During the meeting reference was made to the cooperation in the field of security, Armenia-NATO relations, Armenia’s participation in peacekeeping missions, urgent international issues, the situation in the region, negotiations on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, the perspectives of development of Armenia-EU relations, other issues of reciprocal interest.

Charles Kupchan noted that the United States value Armenia’s commitment to contributing to global peace and security and praised the country’s willingness to contribute to the efforts of NATO and other organizations.

– Pope Francis could make two additional international trips in 2016, including a possible trip to Armenia.

This possibility is suggested by gaps in the papal events schedule published on the website of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household. The prefecture coordinates and prepares all the Pope’s audiences and visits in the Vatican and oversees the arrangements for the Pope’s pastoral visits to Rome and to Italy.

The schedule is published every six months. The latest version includes all papal events from January to June 2016.

Currently, the schedule labels two Angelus prayers and a general audience as “cancelled.” The Pope will not hold the Angelus May 22 or June 26, nor will he hold the June 22 general audience.

This means that the Pope could have time for one short international trip in May and a longer one in June.

At present, this interpretation of the schedule is just speculation. But sources confirmed to CNA that a Papal trip to Armenia is likely in the course of the year.

These sources are corroborated by the remark of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, during his visit to Armenia in September 2015. He raised the possibility of a 2016 papal visit to the country.

In response to a question on whether Pope Francis was willing to visit, Cardinal Sandri told the press agency Ria Novosti that Pope Francis “wishes with all of his heart to go to Armenia,” and that he already “welcomed the invitation Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan made to Pope Francis” last year. Cardinal Sandri noticed that, though “the Pope has a busy schedule,” he hopes “the Pope will find some time to go to Armenia.”

Pope Francis himself expressed his wish to go to Armenia in his Nov. 30 press conference in the flight from Central Africa. In the year 2014, he said, “I promised the three (Armenian) Patriarchs that I would go: the promise has been made. I don’t know if it will be possible, but I did promise.”

The Pope might have time to go to Armenia in June, when a general audience and the consecutive recitation of the Angelus have been cancelled. This means that the Pope will have at least four days to visit the country, from June 22 to June 26.

There are even more options for an eventual international trip to be held around May 22. Every year, the Pope has made a one-day visit to a European capital: in September 2013, he visited Tirana in Albania, while in June 2014 he went to Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Some sources speculated that the Pope might go to Kosovo or to Macedonia, to show closeness to the migrants and refugees that go back and forth on the frontier there.

However, the Pope might also choose to go to a European capital not in the Balkans, a capital that faces increasing migration trends while also experiencing a strong secularization.

Pope Francis was supposed to visit Milan on May 6. Both the Vatican and the Archdiocese of Milan had confirmed the trip.

However, the Holy See press office on Dec. 10, 2015 said that the Pope had cancelled the visit to Milan, and postponed every other “pastoral visit to Italy” due to the commitments for the Jubilee of Mercy. However, the communiqué did not mention any possible cancellation of Pope Francis’ trips outside of Italy.

At the moment, Pope Francis is confirmed to make two international trips. He will go to Mexico Feb. 12-18, and he will go to Poland at the end of July to take part in the World Youth Day scheduled July 26-31.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree today, appointing Armen Amiryan member of the Council of Public Television and Radio Company of Armenia for the term of six year.

The President took note of Articles 27.1, 27.2 of RA Law on Television and Radio and the decision of the ad hoc competition commission formed on November 26, 2015 upon the instruction of the President of the Republic of Armenia.

Born on July 29, 1967, Armen Amiryan graduated from the Armenian State Pedagogical Institute after Khachatur Abovyan. He has worked in the field of television and radio since 1984, has hosted a number of programs on TV.

Armen Amiryan founded the “Ar Radio Intercontinental” Radio Company and the “ArmenAkob” cultural center in 1996.

He worked as Executive Director of Public Radio of Armenia from 1997 to 2015.

In 2006 Armen Amiryan was awarded Movses Khorenatsi Medal. According to a presidential decree, he was granted the Title of Honored Worker of Culture of the Republic of Armenia in September 2015.

France’s far-right National Front (FN) has failed to win a single region in the second round of municipal elections.

The party was beaten into third place, despite leading in six of 13 regions in the first round of voting on 6 December.

Nicolas Sarkozy’s centre-right Republicans finished ahead of the ruling Socialists.

Acknowledging defeat, FN leader Marine Le Pen pledged to keep fighting.

And she blamed the outcome on the mainstream parties which had colluded to keep the FN from power, telling her supporters they had been “disenfranchised in the most indecent of ways by a campaign of lies and disinformation”.

Marine Le Pen stood as a regional presidential candidate in the northern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, while her niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen was the FN’s candidate in the race in Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, in the south.

After both led with more than 40% of the vote in the first round on 6 November, the Socialist candidates in those regions pulled out so their voters could support Republican candidates against the FN in the second round.

Marine Le Pen secured 42.2% of the vote in the second round in her region against the centre-right’s 57.8%.

Marion Marechal-Le Pen took 45.2%, compared with 54.8% for her Republican rival.

Marissa Mayer, chief executive of technology company Yahoo, gave birth to twin girls early on Thursday morning, the BBC reports.

In a post on her tumblr page, she wrote: “Zack and I are excited to announce that our identical twin girls have arrived!” adding “Our whole family is doing great!”.

She is expected to take “limited” time off for maternity leave.

Yahoo announced on Wednesday a plan to spin off its core internet business into a separate company.

Ms Mayer and her husband Zachary Bogue have a three-year-old son, Macallister.

France’s far-right National Front (FN) appears to have made big gains in the first round of regional elections, estimates show.

They put the FN ahead in at least six of 13 regions in mainland France.

The elections are the first electoral test since last month’s Paris attacks, in which 130 people were killed.

The centre-right Republicans party led by former President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared to be in second place ahead of the governing Socialist Party.

A second round of voting will be held on 13 December.

As the results became clear, the Socialist party said it was withdrawing from the second round in at least two regions, in the north and the south, to try to block a run-off victory for the FN.

Exit polls from Sunday’s vote predicted that the FN had won 30.8% of the vote, followed by Mr Sarkozy’s Republicans on 27.2% and President Francois Hollande’s Socialists with 22.7%.

FN leader Marine Le Pen, who stood in the northern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, and her niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen, who stood in Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur in the south, both looked to have won more than 40% of the vote, polls predicted, breaking previous records for the party.

Marine Le Pen told supporters it was a “magnificent result” which proved the FN was “without contest the first party of France”.

Photo: Getty Images

 

South Korea has confirmed it has accepted an offer from North Korea to hold talks next week, the BBC reports.

The talks, to be held at the Panmunjom truce village, will set the stage for high-level meetings which were agreed in principle in August.

That deal followed a stand-off in August that began with landmine explosions on the border and involved an exchange of artillery fire.

Seoul said it had sent requests for meetings before but had no response.