Author: Vicken Chmshkian

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

“The agenda of Armenian-German relations is too broad. it includes multifaceted bilateral relations, Armenia-EU, Armenia-NATO cooperation and participation in peacekeeping missions,” President Serzh Sargsyan said at a joint press conference with Merkel.

“I briefed Chancellor Merkel on the developments of the past few days. Armenia highly appreciates the support of the OSCE German Presidency to the negotiations on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group,” he said.

“Back in January, Germany expressed its support to the proposal to implement a mechanism of investigation of border incidents. Armenia backs the implementation of this mechanism, as well as the withdrawal of snipers from the line of contact,” President Sargsyan said. He added, however, that Azerbaijan has always denied any confidence-building measures and pursued different objectives.

“The objectives were finally revealed the night of April 2. Ignoring the calls of the international community for peace, Azerbaijan started large-scale military actions all along the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact in what was the worst clash ever since the 1994 ceasefire agreement. As a result Azerbaijan turned the region into a hot spot threating the security of Europe,” President Sargsyan said.

“The people of Karabakh do not want war. What they want is one simple thing – the right to determine their future, they want to live in a democratic country,” Serzh Sargsyan added.

“The people of Karabakh do not want war. What they want is one simple thing – the right to determine their future, they want to live in a democratic country, and expect the international community to recognize this right,” Serzh Sargsyan added.

President Sargsyan expressed gratitude to Germany and personally Angela Merkel for their consistent support to the development of Armenia-EU relations.

“Azerbaijan may have more modern weapons, but the power is not measured by the modernity of weapons, by the quantity of tanks, the power is in the faith among the people of Karabakh and Armenia that they will defend their Motherland at any cost,” President Sargsyan said.

Angela Merkel said, in turn, that “as a country presiding over the OSCE, Germany is ready to help the OSCE Minsk Group solve the issue, to play a constructive role. She also stressed the important of returning to the negotiation table as soon as possible.

A list of lands and buildings in Diyarbakir’s Sur district—including the Surp Giragos Armenian Apostolic and the Armenian Catholic Churches—have been expropriated by the Turkish government, according to reports.

Turkish-Armenian newspaper reported that an “urgent expropriation” cabinet decision was taken regarding 6,300 plots of land, citing the March 25 issue of the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey (T.C. Resmi Gazete), the country’s official journal that publishes new legislation and official announcements. Based on the report, the Surp Sarkis Chaldean Church, Virgin Mary Ancient Assyrian Church, and the city’s Protestant church have also been expropriated.

Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality Cultural Heritage Director Nevin Soylukaya told Agos that some properties belonging to the municipality have also been expropriated, and that the local government will initiate legal action. Soylukaya also said that some properties belonging to the municipality are also expropriated and they will initiate legal action. She also urged the owners of the expropriated properties to take legal action.

Armenian Weekly contributor and member of the Surp Giragos Church reconstruction project Raffi Bedrosyan said that there will be a strong effort to reclaim the lands. “All legal and political channels will be mobilized within Turkey and internationally to stop this legalized robbery,” Bedrosyan told the

His Excellency Serzh Sargsyan will arrive in Boston and deliver messages at MIT, Harvard’s’ Kennedy School and the Fletcher School of Diplomacy beginning on March 29th, prior to traveling to Washington, D.C. for an International Nuclear Energy Summit, according to

New England is the home of the second largest Armenian American Community in the country and the President will also be visiting major Armenian institutions and churches in Watertown, the community boasts a number of churches, schools, organizations and the Armenian Museum of America and two weekly newspapers. Watertown and Worcester Massachusetts were the first communities settled by Armenians before and after the Armenian Genocide. The first Armenian Church is America is still in existence in Worcester Massachusetts.

This is the 25th Anniversary of the Independence of Armenia which was established in 1991 subsequent to the breakup of the Soviet Union. Sargsyan has served as the countries civilian defense minister before becoming President. Armenia shares a warm relationship with the United States, the European Union and is part of NATO’s Partnership for Peace and participates in U.N. Peace Keeping deployments around Armenia is strategically important as it also shares a border with Iran, Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the South Caucuses.

On the 29th of March, the President will begin by visiting the Old North Church in Boston with an ecumenical prayer service hosted by the Massachusetts Council of Churches and presided over by Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church and Archbishop Oshagan Chaloian, of the Eastern Prelecy of the Armenian Church, the service will be hosted by Rt. Rev. Gayle Harris, Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

The Armenians share a long standing relationship with the Episcopal Church as Christians coming to America they were offered a place to worship in the Episcopal Church. Also on April 23rd, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley will host the first Armenian Genocide Commemoration at Holy Cross Cathedral in the south end. His Holiness Pope Francis celebrated Mass last April in Rome and commemorated the 100th year of the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian Presidential will also make his first visit Heritage Park on the Rose Kennedy Greenway and place a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial. He will then make an official visit to the State House and have lunch with Governor Charlie Baker and constitutional officers.

President Sargsyan will then travel to Washington, D.C. with heads of state for the Nuclear Energy Summit energy summit hosted by President Barak Obama. Armenian-Americans number over 1,000,000

Belgium have cancelled next week’s friendly against Portugal in Brussels after Tuesday’s attacks in the city, which killed more than 30 people, the BBC reports.

The Belgian Football Association says the city’s authorities asked for Tuesday’s match to be called off for “security reasons and precaution”.

The national team cancelled a training session in the immediate aftermath of the suicide and bomb attacks.

Captain Vincent Kompany was “horrified and revolted” by the incidents.

“I wish for Brussels to act with dignity. We are all hurting, yet we must reject hate and its preachers. As hard as it may be,” he wrote on Twitter.

Next week’s match, due to be played at the King Baudouin Stadium, is the second Belgium friendly in succession that has not gone ahead as scheduled.

In November, their match against Spain in Brussels was called off following the Paris atrocities, which killed 130 people.

Netherlands’ match against France in Amsterdam – 108 miles away from Brussels – will go ahead as planned on Friday.

Renowned Armenian tenor Gegham Grigoryan passed away today aged 65.

World-famous tenor Gegham Grigoryan graduated from Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory, the class of People’s Artist of Armenia professor Sergei Danielyan. Grigorian made his first appearance on the big stage in 1971 at age 20, in 1972 he went to West Berlin to appear with solo concerts.

In 1975 he made his debut at the National Theater of Opera and Ballet of Armenia in the role of Edgar (opera “Lucia di Lammermoor” by Donizetti). This was followed by Saro (opera “Anush” by Tigranian), Tirith (“Arshak II” by Chukhajyan), Sayat Nova (“Sayat-Nova” by Harutyunyan), Count Almaviva (“The Barber of Seville” by Rossini), Faust (“Faust” by Gounod.)

In 1978 he took part in the competition of the School of Art in Milan at the theater La Scalaand was one of the four lucky winners who were invited to qualify for this school. During his traineeship in Italy, he participated in several concerts. In “La Scala” Gegham Grigoryan made his debut in the role of Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly by Puccini). After that performance, he signed a contract with the theater “La Scala” on the leading rols of the operas “Boris Godunov” and Tosca. The performances were conducted by Claudio Abbado, then he was principal conductor of La Scalla.

Unfortunately, the Soviet authorities, for unknown reasons, forbade him to act outside the territory of the Soviet Union for 10 years. In those years Grigoryan was in the list of so-called restricted artists to travel abroad.

In 1980, Virgilijus Noreika, artistic director of Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre invites Grigorian to work In Vilnius. There Grigorian worked with the famous conductor Jonas Alex. He sang in the operas “Eugene Onegin”, “Don Carlos”, “Boris Godunov,” “La Traviata,” “Madame Butterfly,” “Rigoletto” and many others.

Since 1989, at the invitation of Valery Gergiev he performed at the Mariinsky Theater as the lead singer.

Gegham Grigoryan was the art director of National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet after A. Spendiarian.

An army plane with 22 people on board has crashed in Ecuador’s Amazon region, the BBC reports.

“There are no survivors. Our embrace of solidarity to the families and the armed forces. It is a tragedy,” President Rafael Correa said on Twitter (in Spanish).

Nineteen of the people on board were Ecuadoran soldiers travelling for a parachuting exercise.

The Israeli-built Arava plane crashed at 14:30 local time (19:30 GMT) in the eastern province of Pastaza.

The cause of the accident is unknown.

There were also two pilots and one mechanic on board, EFE news agency reported.

Defence Minister Ricardo Patino and rescue teams are travelling to the area.

The Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, atrocities in Africa and genocide of Native peoples in the Americas are among several important topics to be covered at this year’s Genocide Awareness Week at Scottsdale Community College,  according to the

The fourth annual “Genocide Awareness Week: Not On Our Watch” will be April 11-16.

Among the highlights will be the return of 90-year-old Holocaust survivor Oskar Knoblauch to share his story of survival and forgiveness. Knoblauch’s first-hand account is part of an impressive week-long lineup of talks and discussions with genocide survivors, scholars and humanitarians and activists.

Other periods of genocide to be covered include the Syrian civil war, Armenian mass killing, and genocidal eruptions around the globe.

Exhibit on “Iconic Images of the Armenian Genocide”  will be in the SC Lobby throughout April. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. will provide a photographic essay on the Holocaust during the conference.

 

President Serzh Sargsyan has issued a congratulatory message on International Women’s Day.

“Today we are glorifying our women, the protectors of the warmth of our families and the maturity of the society,” the President said.

“Today our women play a greater role in our country than ever. This trend will further deepen as a result of the Constitutional changes. The growing role of women in Armenia will, in turn, strengthen the guidelines of peaceful co-existence, fair work and creativity, which we really prioritize,” the message reads.

– PicsArt, a digital art app that lets users create drawings, paintings and edit photos has grown a sizable user base of more than 65 million monthly active users, about half as big as Pinterest.

Now, PicsArt’s first VP of product Argam DerHartunian is focused on a road map intended to ensure the app is simple enough for anyone to use, but nuanced enough that it still appeals to long-time users.

Many people discover the app through Instagram, where PicsArt users often share their creations. PicsArt’s focus on co-creation and public sharing helps set it apart from the wildly popular Instagram, whose 400 million monthly active users typically follow friends, celebrities and influencers. PicsArt and Instagram users can both post comments with their creations, but PicsArt gives users a much wider range of image editing and drawing tools, such as text bubbles and clipart, than what the Facebook-owned app offers.

“Not everyone comes to PicsArt knowing what to do and how and we will remove that barrier to creation,” DerHartunian said in an email. “PicsArt’s goal is to foster a place where everyone is creative. This means that everyone, regardless of artistic skill level, has the tools necessary to create, collaborate and share their work.”

What can users expect from DerHartunian? More image filters, new and simpler editing tools and a revamped onboarding process that will help people create sooner. He also wants to boost consumption on the app by making it easier for users to find other creators who spark their interest. The startup is constantly working to become better at curating content, as a large portion of users spend more time creating art on the app than consuming it. The app’s home screen, for example, shows users buckets of selected images, such as “daily inspiration” and “joined this week.”

Most importantly, DerHartunian says, he wants to promote collaboration among users. The app currently lets users invite Facebook friends to edit their photos asynchronously and share a video of the drawing process.

“There’s an untapped potential for people to create even more compelling and powerful images, things that will go viral, things that will inspire, if they’re creating with the help of others,” he said.

The app shows users step-by-step how different pieces were created, which has made the app popular in some schools. Musee D’Orsey in Paris, France, for example, of its own volition, incorporated the app into its children’s education program.

DerHartunian officially joined PicsArt in late October. He most recently served as VP of product at Vevo overseeing its mobile, web and TV apps. He helped the online music video service achieve a significant boost in registration and engagement, especially among teens, launched manually curated TV channels and led growth in Germany, Poland and Mexico. Before Vevo, he was a senior product manager at Electronic Arts  and cofounded AddVal Solutions, a consulting firm.

“Argam has built an engaging consumer experience at Vevo that has captured the attention of people worldwide,” PicsArt’s CEO, Hovhannes Avoyan said in a statement. “Similarly, PicsArt aims to become an experience for any creative-minded person in the world. With Argam’s help, we will continue to make great strides to get there.”

PicsArt has been downloaded roughly 250 million times. “The amount of engagement we have and the passion of our users drew me into PicsArt, as well as Hovhannes’ passion for the company,” DerHartunian said in a phone interview. “It fills the white space that’s outside of the selfie or sharing a news article, something more purpose-based, creative-based.”

“PicsArt has the potential to become a household name,” he added.

PicsArt, which was founded in Armenia, first launched on Android in 2012 and on iOS in 2014. The company was profitable when it first started raising funding. The app makes revenue from a combination of advertisements and sponsored contests, as well as through in-app purchases such as special font and image packages.

Avoyan said he was inspired to build the app after repeatedly seeing his young daughter, who loves to draw, resort to sketching on napkins at restaurants. His goal was to create a community that was welcoming to anyone.

PicsArt was among the top 10 most popular free apps in Apple’s App Store in 2014 and 2015. This year, it has remained among the top 20 U.S. photo and video apps by downloads, according to app analytics firm App Annie.

“If you ask people, ‘Do you need another social network?’ they’ll probably say no,” DerHartunian said. “The opportunity really is defining how people consume creative works of art and making it something that people don’t even know that they want.”

Vice-President of the Armenian National Assembly Edward Sharmazanov has left for Germany for a three-day official visit.

On February 25 Sharmazanov will participate in an international conference at Humboldt University of Berlin on “The genocide of Christian peoples in the Ottoman and Kemalist Turkey” and will offer a speech.

Within the framework of the visit Edward Sharmazanov will have meetings with Edelgard Bulmahn, Vice-President of the Bundestag, and Cem Ozdemir, Chairman of the Alliance ’90/The Greens Party.