Author: nina hovnanian

SIMON HEFFER: KIM KARDASHIAN AND POPE FRANCIS LEFT TURKEY IN PR DISASTER OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

14:32, 14 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

By Simon Heffer
International Business Times

Some countries are so upset by Holocaust deniers that they make it a
crime. There have been calls to do the same in Britain but we have,
luckily, avoided such a heavy-handed and grandstanding approach to
the freedom of speech of idiots.

We prefer to see people who deny the Nazi genocide as idiots – or
something stronger – and in a very British way content ourselves that
the obloquy, contempt and derision such people heap upon themselves
by expressing their offensive views is punishment enough, and comes
free of charge.

Sadly there isn’t the newsreel of what happened to the Armenians a
century ago at the hands of the Turks to compare with what we have seen
captured on film of Auschwitz, Belsen and the other Nazi death camps.

Therefore it is disputed to this day by Turkey that its Ottoman
forebears conducted a genocide against the Armenians in 1915.

A hundred years of denial

Armenians see this as their Holocaust and when an entire nation denies
it happened, it is denial on a truly grand and awesome scale. Imagine
how the Jews would feel if the present German republic itself – not
just handfuls of mentally disturbed anti-Semites – said there had been
no German-led genocide against the Jews, and you will understand how
the Armenians and those who sympathise with them feel about Turkey,
a state about to celebrate 100 years of denial.

So three cheers for Pope Francis, who on Sunday (12 April) referred to
the “genocide” of the Turks against the Armenians, knowing the choice
of the G word would infuriate the Turks. Not only do the Turks deny
any such thing happened but they claim they themselves were on the
receiving end of some harsh treatment from the Armenians.

The historical consensus is that 1.5 million Armenians were murdered.

Many countries recognise this as an act of genocide. So too did Pope
John Paul II, who issued a declaration in 2001 saying as much. Francis
chose to quote his predecessor-but-one’s words: but it still upset
the Turks, who immediately recalled their ambassador to the Vatican
and demanded the Vatican’s man in Ankara come and explain himself.

In recalling the mass murder during a commemorative service in St
Peter’s attended by large numbers of Armenians, Francis used rhetoric
familiar from calls over the past 70 years never to forget the Nazi
atrocities. He said: “We recall the centenary of that tragic event,
that immense and senseless slaughter whose cruelty your forebears had
to endure. It is necessary, and indeed a duty, to honour their memory,
for whenever memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to fester.”

Turkey remains far from admitting the historic culpability. The
country’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu used a tweet to describe
Francis’s statement as “far from the legal and historical reality”
and said the Pope had incited “resentment and hatred with baseless
allegations”.

This seems to be a step back from a statement made in 2014 by
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, when he offered
condolences to the present generation of Armenians whose forebears
were slaughtered. Not only does Turkey claim the deaths of Armenians
were in battles during the Great War in which many Turks were killed
too, but it also says the historical consensus about the numbers of
dead is an exaggeration.

An idiotic position

Turkey still conducts relentless lobbying operations to try and
persuade nations not to recognise what happened in Armenia in 1915-16
as genocide, but it has failed with many of them. America does not
use the term officially, not because it does not believe it to be
accurate but because it does not wish to offend so crucial an ally
as Turkey when the rest of the Middle East is so turbulent and hostile.

The Vatican, which is also keen to see a diminution of the conflict
in that region, wants good relations with the Turks too, but not,
to judge from Francis’s remarks, at the expense of pretending not
to notice Turkey’s responsibility for an outrage that happened just
outside living memory.

Armenia itself is building up to a formal commemoration of the genocide
on 24 April. Last week, Kim Kardashian and her sister Khloe were
in Yerevan to lay flowers at a memorial to the victims: the whole
performance was captured on the sisters’ reality TV show, so anyone
out there who is not aware of this atrocity may soon be alerted to it.

The combination of the Kardashians and the Pope adds up to a PR
disaster for Turkey, at a time when in every other respect it is
trying to show itself to be a responsible and progressive member of
the family of civilised nations.

Those whose curiosity is stimulated whether by the Kardashians or
Pope Francis to search the internet for a few minutes will find
not just endless accounts of Turks crucifying Armenians – who were
Christians in an otherwise Muslim empire – but photographs of some
of the atrocities, including a row of gallows with Armenians hanging
from them, and hardly constituting men killed in the heat of battle.

It is well documented that the Ottoman government released brutal
criminals from prison in late 1914 especially to form squads to go
into Armenian territory and slaughter those who lived there. The
trained killers were told the Armenians had collaborated with the
Russians to defeat Turkey.

Armenian intellectuals were rounded up and tortured before being
executed – the extraction of toenails and fingernails followed by
blinding was commonplace. There were mass deportations, killings
and forced starvation. Thousands of bodies were dumped in ravines
and live infants were thrown on to rocks. It was as if Hitler found
this template.

If Turkey won’t see how foolish it makes their nation seem today by
continuing to deny these atrocities, then one despairs of the country
ever joining the civilised world. Many Turks, well aware of what
happened, are embarrassed by the idiotic position of the country’s
political leaders. The centenary would seem to provide the ideal moment
to offer a historic admission of guilt and an apology. And this time,
Germany can provide the template.

Dr Simon Heffer is a British commentator and author who has written
columns for The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator and The
New Statesman. He is the biographer of Enoch Powell, Thomas Carlyle
and Ralph Vaughan Williams and recently published High Minds: The
Victorians And The Birth Of Modern Britain.

ACCORD HISTORIQUE QUI CREE UN NOUVEAU CONTEXTE REGIONAL

ARMENIE

La presse armenienne rend compte de l’accord-cadre sur le dossier
nucleaire iranien, qu’elle qualifie d’>. Alors que le
Ministre des AE, Edward Nalbandian, avait salue l’accord-cadre entre
l’Iran et les six pays (cf. revue du 3.04), un vice-Ministre des AE,
Chavarche Kotcharian, a par ailleurs estime que la levee des sanctions
occidentales contre l’Iran stimulerait les echanges commerciaux
armeno-iraniens et la securite regionale. , estime M.

Chahnazarian, qui croit egalement que de vastes possibilites de
cooperation energetique peuvent s’ouvrir devant l’Armenie.

Pour le quotidien Joghovourd, si l’Armenie ne tire pas profit de
cette

GENOCIDE : ANKARA VOIT ROUGE, COMME LE SANG DES MARTYRS ARMENIENS

Publié le : 13-04-2015

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Pape Francois a osé
braver l’interdit suprême, le tabou ultime que la Turquie impose
au monde dans toutes les instances internationales. Ce dimanche
12 avril 2015, le Saint-Père a prononcé, dans l’enceinte sacrée
de la Basilique Saint-Pierre, lors d’une messe grandiose dédiée
aux chrétiens de rite arménien, la phrase limpide – extraite de
la Déclaration commune de Jean-Paul II et Karekin II, publiée a
Etchmiadzine le 27 septembre 2001 – et par laquelle il renvoie la
Turquie a un passé toujours nié : “Notre humanité a vécu, le
siècle dernier, trois grandes tragédies inouïes : la première
est celle qui est généralement considérée comme ” le premier
génocide du XXème siècle ; elle a frappé votre peuple arménien
– première nation chrétienne – avec les Syriens catholiques et
orthodoxes, les Assyriens, les Chaldéens et les Grecs.”

La Turquie a immédiatement convoqué le représentant du Vatican
a Ankara au ministère des Affaires étrangères turc et a rappelé
son ambassadeur au Vatican pour consultations.

Sa Sainteté Karekin II, Patriarche Suprême et Catholicos de tous les
Arméniens – et en particulier Sa Sainteté Aram Ier, Catholicos de la
Grande Maison de Cilicie qui s’est exprimé en anglais – ont prononcé
quant a eux des discours très forts a la fin de la messe. Ainsi
Aram 1er a déclaré que “la condamnation [du génocide arménien],
sa reconnaissance et ses réparations, sont indissociables”.

Ã~@ n’en pas douter, le Pape a dÔ en prendre plus d’un par surprise
car ses propos du jeudi 9 avril, lors de la réception des 20 évêques
du Synode patriarcal de l’Eglise arménienne, donnaient plutôt dans
le politiquement correct. Il y faisait part “des peuples qui ne sont
pas encore parvenus a un consensus raisonnable sur la lecture de ce
drame”. Des éléments de langage que n’auraient pas reniés Erdogan et
Davutoglu. Ces derniers peuvent néanmoins compter sur la complaisance
de certains médias étrangers – et notamment de l’AFP – pour relayer
sans recul ni analyse, la politique négationniste de la Turquie.

Messe en mémoire des 1.500.000 victimes du génocide arménien :

Vidéo intégrale, traduction en francais :

Vidéo originale pour écouter le discours en anglais d’Aram 1er :

*****

Texte intégral de l’intervention du Pape Francois

” Chers frères et sÃ…”urs Arméniens, chers frères et sÃ…”urs, En des
occasions diverses j’ai défini cette époque comme un temps de guerre,
une troisième guerre mondiale ” par morceaux ”, où nous assistons
quotidiennement a des crimes atroces, a des massacres sanglants, et
a la folie de la destruction. Malheureusement, encore aujourd’hui,
nous entendons le cri étouffé et négligé de beaucoup de nos
frères et sÃ…”urs sans défense, qui, a cause de leur foi au Christ
ou de leur appartenance ethnique, sont publiquement et atrocement
tués – décapités, crucifiés, brulés vifs -, ou bien contraints
d’abandonner leur terre.

Aujourd’hui encore nous sommes en train de vivre une sorte de génocide
causé par l’indifférence générale et collective, par le silence
complice de Caïn qui s’exclame : ” Que m’importe ? ”, ” Suis-je
le gardien de mon frère ? ” (Gn 4, 9 ; Homélie a Redipuglia,
13 septembre 2014).

Notre humanité a vécu, le siècle dernier, trois grandes tragédies
inouïes : la première est celle qui est généralement considérée
comme ” le premier génocide du XXème siècle ” (Jean-Paul II et
Karekin II, Déclaration commune, Etchmiadzin, 27 septembre 2001) ;
elle a frappé votre peuple arménien – première nation chrétienne
– avec les Syriens catholiques et orthodoxes, les Assyriens, les
Chaldéens et les Grecs.

Des évêques, des prêtres, des religieux, des femmes, des hommes,
des personnes âgées et même des enfants et des malades sans défense
ont été tués. Les deux autres ont été perpétrées par le nazisme
et par le stalinisme. Et, plus récemment, d’autres exterminations
de masse, comme celles au Cambodge, au Rwanda, au Burundi, en Bosnie.

Cependant, il semble que l’humanité ne réussisse pas a cesser
de verser le sang innocent. Il semble que l’enthousiasme qui est
apparu a la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale soit en train de
disparaître et de se dissoudre. Il semble que la famille humaine
refuse d’apprendre de ses propres erreurs causées par la loi de la
terreur ; et ainsi, encore aujourd’hui, il y en a qui cherchent a
éliminer leurs semblables, avec l’aide des uns et le silence complice
des autres qui restent spectateurs. Nous n’avons pas encore appris
que ” la guerre est une folie, un massacre inutile ” (cf. Homélie
a Redipuglia, 13 septembre 2014).

Chers fidèles arméniens, aujourd’hui nous rappelons, le cÃ…”ur
transpercé de douleur mais rempli d’espérance dans le Seigneur
ressuscité, le centenaire de ce tragique événement, de cette
effroyable et folle extermination, que vos ancêtres ont cruellement
soufferte. Se souvenir d’eux est nécessaire, plus encore c’est un
devoir, parce que la où il n’y a plus de mémoire, cela signifie
que le mal tient encore la blessure ouverte ; cacher ou nier le mal
c’est comme laisser une blessure continuer a saigner sans la panser !

Je vous salue avec affection et je vous remercie pour votre
témoignage.

Je salue et je remercie pour sa présence Monsieur Serž Sargsyan,
Président de la République d’Arménie.

Je salue aussi cordialement mes frères Patriarches et Ã~Ivêques :
Sa Sainteté Karekin II, Patriarche Suprême et Catholicos de tous
les Arméniens ; Sa Sainteté Aram Ier, Catholicos de la Grande
Maison de Cilicie ; Sa Béatitude Nerses Bedros XIX, Patriarche
de Cilicie des Arméniens Catholiques ; les deux Catholicossats de
l’Ã~Iglise Apostolique Arménienne, et le Patriarcat de l’Ã~Iglise
Arméno-Catholique.

Avec la ferme certitude que le mal ne vient jamais de Dieu infiniment
Bon, et enracinés dans la foi, nous affirmons que la cruauté ne
peut jamais être attribuée a l’Ã…”uvre de Dieu, et en outre ne doit
absolument pas trouver en son Saint Nom une quelconque justification.

Vivons ensemble cette célébration en fixant notre regard sur
Jésus-Christ, vainqueur de la mort et du mal. ”

*****

Texte de Karekine II (version anglaise du texte lu en arménien)

Your Holiness and Beloved Brother in Christ, Through the merciful will
of God, We visit Rome once again. We come with the President of the
Republic of Armenia, Mr. Serzh Sargisyan; with Our spiritual brother,
Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia; and with the Bishops
of the Armenian Church and the representatives of the Armenian faithful
worldwide. With the joy of the Holy Resurrection and love of Christ,
We bring Our fraternal greetings and best wishes to Your Holiness,
and bring Our prayerful participation in the Holy Mass celebrated
by Your Holiness in the Basilica of Saint Peter, in commemoration of
the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Our people who gave birth to Saint Gregory of Narek, have throughout
history endured countless horrors and faced calamities for their
Christian faith and national identity. One century ago, the brutal
crime of genocide was committed against our people in Ottoman Turkey.

With a deliberate plan, with horrific atrocities, one and a half
million Armenians were slaughtered. Our ancient people were uprooted
from their cherished cradle of life – their historic homeland –
and scattered over different countries. Our centuries-old Christian
legacy heritage was ruined, obliterated, and seized.

Lire la suite ici :

*****

Texte d’Aram 1er (le Prélat ayant parlé sans regarder ses notes,
des ajouts sont a écouter dans la version audio a voir ci-dessous) :

This is indeed a unique moment in our modern history; a moment marked
by ecumenical and pan-Armenian symbolism. I would like to highlight
three significant aspects of this historical moment.

First, we are grateful for Your Holiness’ initiative in celebrating
a holy mass in the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican in
commemoration of the one-and-a-half million martyrs of the Armenian
Genocide. As St. Paul says, “To die in Christ is to live” (Phil.

1:21). The Armenian martyrs belong to the “cloud of witnesses
surrounding us” (Hebr. 12:1). With their faith, hope and vision,
they have sustained and guided the life of our people during the past
100 years. We remember the words of the 2nd century church father
Tertullian, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.” The
canonization of the martyrs by the Armenian Church will fortify our
people’s faithfulness to their sacred legacy.

Second, today, Your Holiness has proclaimed Saint Gregory of Narek
a doctor of the Church (Doctor Ecclesiae). We express our spiritual
joy for this decision of the Catholic Church. In fact, Saint Gregory
of Narek is one of the great mystics of world Christendom. He was
an outstanding theologian, whose theology is not an intellectual
reflection on God, but a dialogue with God. With his BOOK OF
LAMENTATIONS, which is a human cry for meaning and salvation, St
Gregory of Narek remains our eternal contemporary.

And finally in this spiritual context, by remembering and commemorating
the Armenian martyrs, we also reclaim justice. Justice is a gift
of God; violation of justice is a sin against God. For one hundred
years, the Armenian people have remained faithful to the legacy of
its martyrs by demanding the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and
reparation. This commitment for justice will continue with renewed
faith and resolve.

The Vatican has never been indifferent to the Armenian Genocide. Pope
Benedict XV wrote a strongly worded letter to the Sultan of Turkey
protesting the “massive crime” perpetrated against Armenians. In the
following years, the Holy See extended its social and humanitarian
aid to the Armenian people. In fact, the newly released historical
documents confirm the Holy See’s firm stand with the Armenian people’s
claim for justice. Our people value the moral support of the Holy See.

With these thoughts in mind and hope in heart, we express our profound
gratitude for the love and fellowship that Your Holiness has always
shown towards our church and people. We pray that Almighty God
enrich your ministry with continued achievements at the service of
the Church’s mission and unity.

———–

Lire aussi :

Audience au Synode patriarcal de l’Eglise arménienne

Génocide arménien: la Turquie rappelle son ambassadeur au Vatican

Pope boosts Armenia’s efforts to have Ottoman killings recognised
as genocide

The Armenian Church – Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

ArmenianOrthodoxChurch

ARMENIAN EYE CARE PROJECT AND ORANGE FOUNDATION START FREE EYE CARE PROJECT IN KOTAYK PROVINCE

YEREVAN, April 13. /ARKA/. The free eye care program 2015 organized
by Orange Foundation and the Armenian Eye Care Project (AECP) has
started in Kotayk province. As part of this project 3000 adults and
1500 children have undergone eye screenings already, Orange Armenia
said in a press release.

>From March 30 till April 4 the Mobile eye hospital visited Yeghvard
town, where inhabitants of the town and nearby areas, in need of
screenings, eye surgeries and laser treatment, visited the hospital
and benefited from free eye care services, it said.

Mobile Eye hospital is currently in Abovyan town, where it will remain
till the 18th of April, later heading to Hrazdan town (April 20-May
8). Chairmen of Orange Foundation and Armenian Eye Care Project have
visited the Mobile eye hospital to review the current works implemented
in Kotayk region.

VALLEY VOICE: US MUST ACKNOWLEDGE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

The Desert Sun
April 13 2015

Steven B. Quintanilla, Special to The Desert Sun

Although commemorating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the
Armenian Genocide through a “moment of silence” may be respectful,
I am afraid it may be wholly inadequate in light of the exacerbated
pain caused by a “century of silence” by our government in Washington.

April 24, 1915, is the day several hundred Armenian intellectuals were
arrested and later executed by the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. Over
the following seven years, two-thirds of the Armenian population
(estimated at 1.5 million) was exterminated.

At the start of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during the early
part of World War I, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire — who was
also the leader of the greater Islamic community at the time — used
Armenians as scapegoats for the Ottoman Empire’s problems. Armenians,
as a distinct and different ethnic group from the Turks and as
Christians in an empire dominated by Islamic beliefs, were seen
(at the time) as a threat to the Ottoman Empire and the greater
Islamic community.

In addition to the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians, hundreds of
thousands more were forced into permanent exile from their ancestral
homelands. Tens of thousands of Armenian children were left orphaned
with lifelong painful memories of murdered family members. Many
thousands more were left in a state of crippled existence in mind,
body and spirit caused by the unspeakable atrocities committed against
the Armenian people during this dark and evil assault on humanity.

“Genocide,” as defined by a renowned Polish-Jewish lawyer in 1943,
means the deliberate killing of a racial, ethnic, religious or national
group. Clearly, under the plain meaning of this definition, the killing
of 1.5 million people of a particular ethnic group (Armenian), most
of whom adhered to the religion of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
a Christian denomination, was “genocide.”

The Armenian Genocide has been recognized as a historical fact by
Canada, Sweden, Italy, Poland, France, Belgium, Greece, Argentina,
and (even) Russia. Concerns over upsetting Turkey, a key ally in a
historically highly volatile region, have kept numerous U.S.

presidential administrations and members of Congress silent on the
issue, which tragically continues to this day. In fact, just last
month, 40 members of House of Representatives launched a bi-partisan
effort to persuade Congress and the president to officially recognize
the Armenian Genocide as a historic fact. But, like many efforts
before, it fell on deaf ears and the painful silence sadly endures.

Why should America end its century of silence by formally recognizing
the Armenian Genocide as a historical fact? I believe we should because
most of the world will listen. America must end its silence on the
issue not only because of the moral obligation I believe America owes
to the Armenian-American community which has contributed in a very
meaningful and highly productive manner to the social, cultural,
economic and political fabric of America, but also because we have
an ethical, fiduciary and moral obligation to humankind. I sincerely
believe (and pray and hope) America’s formal recognition of the
Armenian Genocide will serve as a catalyst for creating an official
international framework to prevent the same human atrocities from
occurring again. We should not stand by and let our silence (let alone
our century of silence) be used as justification, albeit as insane as
it may be, by yet another despotic and evil ruler or regime to commit.

Steven B. Quintanilla is an attorney in Rancho Mirage. Email him
at [email protected]

Pune Mirror, India
April 12 2015

Pope calls Armenian massacre first genocide of 20th century

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis described the massacre of as many as 1.5
million Armenians as “the first genocide of the 20th century” at a
100th anniversary Mass on Sunday, prompting Turkey to summon the Holy
See’s ambassador in Ankara in protest.

Muslim Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians died in clashes
with Ottoman soldiers beginning in 1915, when Armenia was part of the
empire ruled from Istanbul, but denies hundreds of thousands were
killed and that this amounted to genocide.

It was the first time a pope has publicly pronounced the word
“genocide” for the massacre, repeating a term used by some European
and South American countries but avoided by the US to maintain good
relations with an important ally. Francis said the other two genocides
of the 20th century were “perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism”, before
pointing to more recent mass killings in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and
Bosnia.

Francis, who has disregarded many aspects of protocol since becoming
pope two years ago, uttered the phrase during a private meeting at the
Vatican with an Armenian delegation in 2013, prompting a strong
protest from Ankara. Turkey swiftly summoned the Vatican’s ambassador
in Ankara to protest and seek an explanation.

The Week
April 12 2015

Pope Francis: Armenian slaughter the ‘first genocide of the twentieth century’

Pope Francis on Sunday described the mass killing of an estimated 1.5
million Armenians as the “first genocide of the twentieth century,”
angering Turkey which refuses to acknowledge the slaughter in such
stark terminology.

“In the past century, our human family has lived through three massive
and unprecedented tragedies,” the pontiff, citing a declaration from
his predecessor John Paul II, said at a ceremonial Mass to mark the
centennial of the killings. “The first, which is widely considered
‘the first genocide of the twentieth century,’ struck your own
Armenian people.”

Turkey, which continues to deny the genocide ever took place,
immediately summoned a Vatican ambassador to explain the remarks. Jon
Terbush

INAUGURATION À ANTONY
L’Aigle d’Arménie au Parc de Sceaux

Le club Franco-Arménien d’Antony a procédé le 11 avril à 11H à la
cérémonie d’installation de l’Aigle d’Arménie, une oeuvre du sculpteur
Rast-Klan Toros, dans le domaine du Parc de Sceaux administré par
Antony. Plus d’une centaine de personnes ont assisté à cette
inauguration qui a donné lieu à de belles prises de paroles de Patrick
Devedjian, député des Hauts-de-Seine et président du Conseil du
département, Jean-Yves Sénant, maire d’Antony, Wissam Nehmé, président
du Club Franco-Arménien d’Antony, S.E Viguen Tchitetchian, ambassadeur
d’Arménie et Jean-Pierre Guardiola, sous-préfet de l’arrondissement.
Assistaient également à cet événement M. Hovig Guévorkian,
représentant de la délégation du Haut-Karabakh en France et M. Mourad
Papazian et Ara Toranian, coprésidents du CCAF.

Tous les orateurs ont rendu hommage au talent de l’artiste qui a su
interpréter dans sa sculpture la détermination et la force de vie du
peuple arménien, sa résistance à des siècles d’oppression et au
premier génocide du XXe siècle. Un martyr qui a été à l’origine de la
formation de la communauté arménienne de France, laquelle à travers ce
type de monuments dédié à la mémoire, offre des sépultures symboliques
à ses aïeux, dont les ossements ont été éparpillés sur les routes de
la déportation et dans les déserts de Syrie et d’Irak. Là-même où l’on
continue de tuer des chrétiens pour ce qu’ils sont. La-même où l’on a
été jusqu’à dynamiter le 18 septembre dernier le mémorial de Der Zor,
qui conservait pieusement les dernières reliques des victimes, a
rappelé Patrick Devedjian.

dimanche 12 avril 2015,
Ara (c)armenews.com

Tasnim News Agency, Iran
April 12 2015

Iran’s FM Underscore Promotion of Tehran-Yerevan Relations

April 12, 2015 – 12:16

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hailed
the close relations between Iran and Armenia, saying that the two
neighboring countries should further expand their mutual cooperation.

Iran and Armenia share a lot of cultural and historical commonalities,
Zarif said, underscoring the necessity for the expansion of bilateral
relations between Tehran and Yerevan.

He made the remarks in a meeting with the new Armenian Ambassador to
Iran Artassh Tumanian on Saturday, during which the ambassador handed
over a copy of his credentials to the Iranian minister.

Tumanian, for his part, noted that he is seeking to further boost
economic ties with Islamic Republic of Iran during his term as the
ambassador.

Earlier in October, Zarif and Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan
had held a meeting in Tehran, during which they explored avenues for
the expansion of all-out ties between Tehran and Yerevan, especially
the economic relations.

Armenian President talks to Pope, thanks for Genocide centennial Mass

19:30, 12 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan talked to Pope Francis after the
Mass at Vatican commemorating the Armenian genocide centennial.

President Sargsyan expressed gratitude to Pope Francis for the Holy Liturgy.