12:22,
YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. The government of Armenia is envisaging very serious reforms in military education sector, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting today.
“We envisage very serious reforms in military education field. I am confident that we will have a talk on this topic at one of the upcoming sessions of the government”, he said.
The rally organized by the Armenian Youth Federation was one of several held across the Southland to mark the 107th anniversary of the massacre. Los Angeles County is home to the largest population of Armenians in the United States.
Speakers at the protest honored the victims of the genocide and the strength of its survivors, told of Armenia's rich history and culture, and called for Turkey to finally acknowledge the loss and trauma it inflicted upon the Armenian people.
Outside the Turkish Consulate on Wilshire Boulevard, rally attendees waved the national flag of Armenia and chanted "1915 never again! Genocide never again!” and "Eastern Turkey is Western Armenia!" — referring to the historical homeland of Armenians. They placed their palms in red paint and pressed them onto a white banner, an installation that represented Armenian bloodshed.
By many estimates, a million Armenians died in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1920, one of the first genocides in a century that would be defined by mass killings. Ignored by most of the world and denied by the Turkish government, the Armenian slaughter was considered for generations a “perfect genocide," as its victims were forgotten and its perpetrators went unpunished.
Armenians continue to face threats, protesters said. With the help of Turkey in 2020, Azerbaijan launched a war in an attempt to remove ethnic Armenians living in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Our community is also calling on the U.S. government to prevent Turkey and Azerbaijan from committing ongoing war crimes against the Armenian people," said Alex Galitsky, spokesman for the Armenian National Committee of America, an organizer of the event.
Until President Biden in 2021 officially called the killings a genocide, American presidents had also declined to do so. They instead classified the deaths at the hands of the Ottoman Empire as an atrocity — but not a genocide.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors last month proclaimed April as Armenian History Month and last week passed a motion declaring April 24 as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in Los Angeles County. April 24 is also observed throughout the Armenian diaspora and is a national holiday in Armenia.
Times staff photographer Jason Armond contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The primary objective of the protest campaign launched by the Armenian opposition is to ensure the security of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Artur Vanetsyan, who leads the opposition With Honor parliamentary faction and the Homeland Party, said on Tuesday.
Vanetsyan, a former chief of the National Security Service (NSS), started an open-ended sit-in in Yerevan’s Liberty Square on Sunday evening. He and other activists remained camped out there on Monday and Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters in the square, the opposition MP underscored that removing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his team is not their sole focus, adding it is just necessary for them to achieve their main goal.
“Our key objective is to ensure the security of the homeland. I am not calling for their ouster for me to come to power. We just seek a secure country, a status for Artsakh, we seek to prevent the handover of the part of Artsakh remaining under Armenian control [to Azerbaijan] as well as the statements that Artsakh can be a part of Azerbaijan,” Vanetsyan said, stressing it is possible to achieve only after the removal of the current Armenian authorities.
Vanetsyan says there will be protests in various parts of Armenia in the near future.
Today, April 19, Speake of the Artsakh National Assembly Artur Tovmasyan, together with the heads of the factions, hosted the extra-parliamentary political forces participating in the March 31, 2020 parliamentary elections in Artsakh, including the National Renaissance Party, Generation of Independence Party, Artsakh Communist Party, Artsakh Revolutionary Party, Artsakh Conservative Party, United Armenia Party and Tomorrow Artsakh Party.
At the meeting, the leaders of the extra-parliamentary forces expressed their opinion and position on the Artsakh issue, highlighting the fact that the parliamentary factions act in unison, the parliament’s press office said.
The representatives of the parties stressed that they fully support and join the April 14, 2022 statement adopted by the National Assembly of the Artsakh Republic.
“We demand that the authorities of the Republic of Armenia abandon their current disastrous position… No government has a right to lower the negotiating bar for a status acceptable to Artsakh and the internationally recognized right to self-determination under the pretext of "peace". On behalf of the Artsakh Armenians, we call on Armenians all over the world to stand united and resolutely by the brothers and sisters of Armenia and Artsakh in this just struggle,” reads the statement.
ArmInfo.According to RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, if the "Zangezur Corridor", put forward by Azerbaijan, becomes a reality Armenia will have problems with territorial integrity. This was stated in the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia.
So, in response to the request of RFE/RL's Armenian Service, to clarify what the head of the RA Cabinet of Ministers meant when on April 13, presenting a report on the implementation of the Government's program for 2021 from the rostrum of the Parliament, stated that "I could not convince myself for the reason that I realized that Robert Kocharyan did not exaggerate at all when he said that Armenia also has territorial problems."
"The prime minister meant that in the early 1990s, during the first Karabakh war, the Republic of Armenia also suffered territorial losses. In addition, in 2021, the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia was violated due to the invasion of Azerbaijani units into the Sotk-Khoznavar section of the sovereign territory of Armenia," the Prime Minister's Office said in a response.
To the question whether Armenia will face the problem of territorial integrity in the event of the implementation of the so-called "Zangezur corridor" put forward by Azerbaijan, a laconic answer was given: "Yes." For clarification, speaking of the territorial integrity of Armenia, the prime minister has in mind the issue of the Armenian enclave, which was part of Azerbaijan in the Soviet years, the Prime Minister's Office noted in particular: "Yes, it refers to the Artsvashen enclave and the fact that tens of kilometers of the territory of Armenia from the Tavush region, thousands of hectares of arable land are under the control of Azerbaijan."
On April 15, Armenians in Connecticut and all over the world will commemorate the Armenian Genocide of 1915, when more than 1.5 million Armenians perished in a vicious and unthinkable state action by the Ottoman Empire.
Despite overwhelming and virtually incontrovertible evidence of that horrific tragedy, the government of Turkey continues to shamelessly deny it. The United States, which had sidestepped the recognition issue for many years so as not to offend its NATO ally, formally recognized and condemned the genocide in 2020 with resolutions of both houses of Congress and then by President Joe Biden’s statement in 2021, courageously recognizing the genocide, which said of the victims, “We honor their story. We see that pain. We affirm the history … The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide.”
Efforts for continued condemnation of all genocides is important to honor those who perished during those horrible times but equally to deter the ongoing threats of future genocides. Continued vigilance is needed as the world today witnesses an escalation of brutality in Ukraine, which that government now condemns as genocide. Continued atrocities in the historic Armenian region known as Artsakh further demonstrate the need to watchfully condemn ongoing genocides.
In addition to the increasing number of recognition of the Armenian genocide by scholars, journalists and governments has been another event which has uplifted the hearts and souls of Armenians all around the world: In 2015, the year of the 100th commemoration of that tragic event, the Armenian Church took an unprecedented and truly remarkable step: The canonization of the martyrs of the genocide by the Armenian Church. The Synod of bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church, under the auspices the Armenian Catholicoi, formally recognized those who perished in the Genocide as martyrs and canonized them as saints of the Armenian Church.
The event was reported to be the largest canonization service in history. It was an occurrence of enormous consequence. It had been some 500 years since the last time the Armenian Church had canonized a new saint. While not widely reported in non-Armenian communities, the historic event was reverently and proudly proclaimed throughout Armenia and the diaspora. It was a monumental event filled with hope and symbolism.
His Eminence Archbishop Daniel Findikyan, primate of the Armenian Diocese of the Armenian Church in America, Eastern Region, before his ordination, produced a magnificent monograph titled “From Victims to Martyrs.” In it he wrote: “Never in (the) history of the Armenian Church had new saints been proclaimed with greater splendor, excitement or inclusiveness — every hierarchical jurisdiction of the Armenian Church was represented, as were a few sister churches throughout the world. … Unprecedented as well was the Armenian Church’s readiness, after one hundred years, to discern God’s redeeming grace from within the darkness and evil of that great crime against humanity.”
The Genocide victims are now martyrs. They can now provide intercession. Instead of praying for them, we now pray to them. It is something of incredible mystery and relevance. In the words of Father Untzag Nalbandian, pastor of Trumbull’s Holy Ascension Armenian Church “Many of us are the sons and daughters of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, who gave us a new life in this country and or wherever they went. Since 2015, our generation became the children of saints, which puts on us a greater responsibility to be good, caring, helpful and compassionate towards others. Genocide against one ethnic group is a genocide against all humanity. We remember our martyrs, but now we also can ask for their intercession.”
Along with the canonization of the martyrs came the consecration and anointment of a new icon depicting the Holy Martyrs. It is present in all Armenian churches.
The canonization has proved to be an inspirational event for the entire Armenian community, and for the world. It is a reminder that despite the passage of time, helpless victims of the Armenian Genocide will be never be forgotten, but rather will be remembered for their faith and will forever serve to intercede on behalf of all of their descendants.
Harry Mazadoorian lives in Kensington. His parents were survivors of the Armenian Genocide in which three of his grandparents perished.
ArmInfo. Azerbaijan's proposals concerning Artsakh's status are unacceptable, Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan stated at his meeting with activists and heads of communities in Martakert.
"We understand we are neighbors, but we cannot submit. It is inadmissible. We should be guided by the status quo option, as Russians are saying. The Russian peacekeepers will stay here with no time limits as hey have arrived here as guarantors of the Artsakh Armenians' security.
"Living on here as de facto independent and seeking further de jure changes – independence or joining Armenia – which I consider unlikely. But it could be relations with Russia, vertical relations," Harutyunyan said.
Speaking in Parliament on , Armenia's premier said: "The international community is telling us straightforwardly now: being the world's only country refusing to recognize Turkey's ally Azerbaijan's territorial integrity is a great threat not only to Artsakh, but also to Armenia. The international community is telling us again now: request a lower status for Nagorno-Karabakh, and you will enjoy international unanimity on Armenia and Artsakh. Otherwise, we request you not to hope for us not because we are unwilling to help, but because we are unable to."
ArmInfo.It was clear at the outbreak of hostilities that the Russian-Ukrainian crisis would inevitably cause a spiral of threats in Eurasia, Tigran Abrahamyan, a member of the With Honor parliamentary faction, believes.
In confronting Russia, the international community will not stop at sanctions and abundant military and financial supplies to Ukraine.
"It is being done to create new hotbeds round Russia and in the regions under its traditional influence. And the major task of Armenia and Artsakh is not to become a platform for confrontation between Russia and the others, which is much more probable now," he said.
The Armenian government's statements and actions not only do not prevent such developments, but create favorable conditions for new escalation.
"And I am not yet speaking of the clowns and showmen in the foreground attempting to force another agenda on the public and discredit all the forces warning of real threats. They do not at all realize a new war will not be waged within Artsakh boundaries. And it is being manifested on smaller scales in Gegharkunik, Vaiots Dzor and especially in Syunik. By being weak and behaving like this, this government is only making war more imminent," Mr Abrahamyan said.
20:43, 8 April, 2022
YEREVAN, APRIL 8, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan signed decrees on appointing ambassadors to 4 countries, ARMENPRESS was informed from the website of the President of Armenia.
Armen Ghevondyan has been appointed Ambassador of Armenia to Kazakhstan (residence in Nur-Sultan). Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Kingdom of Spain Sos Avetisyan has also been appointed Ambassador of Armenia to Andorra (dual accredition, residence in Madrid).
Ambassador of Armenia to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has been appointed Ambassador to Ireland (dual accredition, residence in London). The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to Italy Tsovinar Hambardzumyan has been appointed Ambassador to Malta (dual accredition, residence in Rome).