Author: Tania Jagharian

Photo: AP

The UN has suspended all aid convoys in Syria after its lorries were attacked by warplanes near Aleppo on Monday, the BBC reports.

The convoy had received proper permits, and all warring parties – including Russia and the US – had been notified, a UN spokesman said.

Eighteen of the 31 lorries, containing wheat, winter clothes and medical supplies, were destroyed.

A senior local official of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent was among a number of civilians killed.

The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, has described the attack as a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.

The US has expressed “outrage” over the attack, which took place in the town of Urum al-Kubra hours after the Syrian army declared a US-Russian brokered truce over.

“There was no other choice…I knew that it wouldn’t be right if the world’s fastest underwater swimmer was there and didn’t even try to help.”

Shavarsh Karapetyan

Shavarash Karapetyan was a 17-time world champion finswimmer in Armenia during the Soviet Union’s existence. Despite his success as an athlete, he is best known for his incredible heroism.

On a September day in 1976, while training, Karapetyan heard a trolley bus skid off the road and land in frigid Lake Yerevan. As the bus sank, Karapetyan stripped off his clothes and jumped into the lake. As it hit bottom, he broke the windows of the bus and started to pull people out, one by one. In about 20 minutes, he pulled out over 30 passengers, although only 20 survived; some were already dead by the time he got to them.

As a result of his selfless actions he contracted pneumonia, and when the broken glass-induced gashes on his legs became infected, he developed sepsis. He was hospitalized for weeks and was in serious condition, but eventually recovered. His doctor said the only reason he survived was because he was in such prime physical shape due to his training.

Karapetyan’s injuries did not allow him to continue his career as an athlete and he had to leave sports. Years later, while walking in a neighborhood he came by a burning building and, again without hesitation, ran in and saved people inside. He was again injured and hospitalized.

He was one of those who carried the Olympic torch in the relay leading up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

President Serzh Sargsyan has issued the following statement on the occasion of Knowledge and Schooling Day:

Dear schoolchildren and students, teachers and parents,

I cordially congratulate you on the occasion of the September 1 – Knowledge Day.

Once it was important to propagate the importance of knowledge; however, in the 21st century there is no doubt about that. Knowledge has become the most powerful weapon and tool in the world for every individual and society at large. In Armenia, we are highly aware of that. We all see the readiness and dedication, which parents put in to provide their children with good education.

We are improving our educational system consistently. We do realize that we have issues at schools and higher education institutions which need to be fixed. These issues have mainly to do with the level of education, which cannot satisfy us. We are not content just because perfection has no limits but also since in the contemporary world the pace of development has increased dramatically. We have to keep up with the world. We have to accelerate the development of education.

We also must make good education affordable for all. No teenager should lose the opportunity to receive good education only because he or she cannot pay for it.

Judging from the results demonstrated by our schoolchildren at the international competitions, our schools are not doing badly. Our school is competitive; however, we cannot be complacent, and it is necessary to raise the bar of our requirements every year, otherwise, we will be lagging behind the developing world.

I once again congratulate you all on the occasion of the Knowledge Day and wish you an academic year full of success and achievements.

Summer 2016 marked another successful campaign for the Land and Culture Organization (LCO)/Organisation Terre et Culture (OTC).  After three summer campaigns of volunteers, and four years of historical archaeologists, local workers and artisans, LCO/OTC celebrated the completion and consecration of the its fifth historical restoration project 16th century Sourp Stepanos Nakhavegah (St. Stephen the Protomartyr) church in the village of Shikaghogh.  Shikahogh is located in the southern Syunik region, adjacent to the Shikahogh Forest Reserve 20 miles south of Kapan.   Being near the Armenian-Artsakh border, the Azeris shelled Shikahogh during the Karabagh conflict.  Now, they are hoping to develop ecotourism in the Shikahogh State Reserve area.

Sourp Stepanos was blessed on August 6nd by Holy Etchmiadzin Bishop Hovannes Hakopyan and clergy of the Syunik Diocese.  Present at the consecration ceremonies were Kegham Kevonian President of UIOTC (Union of Land and Culture International), Haig and Hilda Manjikian and Nazaret Kevonian of LCO-USA, project architect Stepan Nalbandian of LCO/OTC Armenia “Yergeer Yev Meshagiut”, along with LCO/OTC volunteers and members.  Over two hundred members of the Shikahogh community, neighboring villagers, and mayors from surrounding villages and attended the ceremonies.  It was an emotional moment for all present following the culmination of years of hard work by volunteers and local craftsmen.   Some community elders remember being baptized at Sourp Stepanos. 

Throughout the project’s duration, 60 volunteers from the diaspora lived in Shikahogh and worked on Sourp Stepanos.  Volunteers participated in every aspect of the project from archaeologic digs, clearing the exterior and interior of the church, fixing the roof, rebuilding the altar and more.  Since 1989, LCO/OTC has worked on 20 projects including renovation of community centers, schools, construction of solar dryers, and historical church restoration in Armenia and Artsakh.  

In addition to the completion of Sourp Stepanos, LCO/OTC began work on a new project in southern Armenia.  This year’s campaign brought 40 dedicated volunteers from the United States, France, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Armenia, and Artsakh to spend three-weeks in the Syunik region, rebuilding the 17thcentury historical Sourp Hovannes (St. John) church in Armenia’s southern most point of Meghri.  The Meghri restoration project will take four to five years to complete. During the campaign, workdays of physical labor participating in the renovation of this Armenian church is just one part of the LCO/OTC experience.  Volunteers live in a very modest rural home and spend non-working hours bonding with village residents, while enjoying local activities and their surroundings.  In addition to experiencing village life, the volunteers go on excursions of Armenian historical sites. 

On 8 July Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received chairman of the Pan-Armenian Games’ International Committee Ishkhan Zakaryan, Armenian Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Gabriel Ghazaryan and a group of officials representing these two structures.

Issues related to the organization of the 7^th Pan-Armenian summer games to be held in Artsakh in 2019  were discussed during the meeting.

President Sahakyan highlighted holding the Pan-Armenian games in Artsakh from the viewpoints of developing the sphere of sports and culture, as well as cementing the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora trinity underlining that everything possible would be done for organizing the games at the highest level.

National Assembly chairman Ashot Ghoulyan, prime-minister Arayik Haroutyun and other officials were present at the meeting.

Horizon Weekly – Keith Nahigian, a veteran Republican strategist, has been hired as a senior adviser by the Donald J. Trump campaign.

Keith and his brother Ken run Nahigian Strategies, a respected Washington, DC-based public relations and advocacy firm. He has been active in the leadership of many state and national campaigns, including those of Congressman Robert J. Dold, the Co-Chairman of the Armenian Caucus.

In the widely-read 2012 POLITICO campaign chronicle “Inside the Circus: Romney, Santorum and the GOP Race,” authors Mike Allen and Evan Thomas described him as “a veteran advance man sometimes called the ‘Armenian Fellini’ for his creative touch.”

In a wide-ranging opening speech to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein shed a light on “preventable calamities” and worrying trends around the world, including detailed concerns about the situation in more than 50 countries.

“The rights of people still suffering from the protracted conflicts in the South Caucasus have long been a concern of my Office,” he said.

“We have received allegations of violations of international law in the context of the upsurge in hostilities along the line of contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, especially in April. Significant efforts are needed to address the situation of displaced people. My Office is ready to assist in the collection of objective information on human rights needs in the affected areas,” Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said.

Azerbaijan unleashed a large-scale military aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh in April this year, violating international humanitarian law and committing war crimes.

Azerbaijani armed forces beheaded and tortured not only servicemen of the NKR Defense Army, but also civilians, including elderly people and women. 

The bodies of servicemen of the NKR Defense Army transferred to the Armenian side under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had signs of torture and mutilation.

Those acts constitute a grave violation of the international humanitarian law, in particular, the Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (1949), Geneva Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (1949) and the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I).

Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan had a phone conversation with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzey Kasprzyk.

The interlocutors discussed the situation at the Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

The Defense Minister assured that the Armenian side is committed to the agreements reached between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Vienna on May 16.

Minister Ohanyan noted that “The Armed Forces of Armenia and the NKR Defense Army unequivocally support the implementation of the 1994 agreement on ceasefire and 1995 agreement on reinforcement of ceasefire, expansion of the monitoring mission, implementation of the mechanism of investigation of border incidents.”

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had a meeting with  Federica Mogheini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the EU Commission.

The interlocutors discussed issues related to regional developments and the existing challenges. In this context reference was made to the situation established as a result of the recent escalation in the Karabakh conflict zone and the ways out of the situation.

Presenting the stance of the Armenian side on the resumption of the negotiation process, President Sargsyan stressed the need of unconditional implementation of the 1994 agreement on ceasefire and the 1995 agreement on reinforcement of the ceasefire as a first step towards creating favorable conditions for the settlement of the issue.

Federica Mogheini reiterated the EU support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and voiced willingness to provide assistance in the implementation of confidence-building measures in the conflict zone. In this respect the Armenian side attached importance to the visit of EU representatives to regions that suffered as a result of the conflict.

The parties voiced hope that the meetings being held in Vienna today at the initiative of the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries would help overcome the current situation and establish stability and peace in the region.

During the meeting reference was made to Armenia-EU relations, including cooperation in different spheres.

The U.N. human rights chief has urged Turkey to allow investigators to probe allegations of violations committed by Turkish security forces.

Zeid Raad al-Hussein said he has received reports of unarmed civilians being deliberately shot by snipers or from military vehicles in the course of security operations in southeastern Turkey. Those operations focused on mainly Kurdish towns where militants and youths linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party are active.

“While Turkey has a duty to protect its population from acts of violence, it is essential that the authorities respect human rights at all times while undertaking security or counter-terrorism operations,” he said.

The U.N. wants to investigate reports more than 100 people were burned to death in the town of Cizre while sheltering in basements surrounded by security forces.