Author: Zhanna Nahapetian

 

 

 

Ending a two-day state visit to Azerbaijan, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt said “Azerbaijan continues to face the consequences of the deadlock over the conflict concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh region.”

“It is essential that solutions are found to the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan. This conflict not only destabilizes both Armenia and Azerbaijan, affecting their economies and their societies, but it also adversely affects the capacity of these countries to progress in the fields of democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” he said.

Spokesperson for the NKR President David Babayan said in comments to that “the statement is a result of caviar policy and lobbying or lack of knowledge.”

“PACE and its representatives should have a strong immune value system, which should not yield to the amount of sum or products. If the immune system is week, the Parliamentary Assembly or other European structures may find themselves in a very hard situation,” David Babayan said.

“If the PACE President talks about expansion of relations with a state that glorifies axe-murders, it’s not good. We must not be too sensitive towards these issue, but at the same time we have to do our best to strengthen our security and not rely upon some corrupt officials. We must pursue our national interests,” David Babayan said.

–  When Armenian soccer club Ararat Yerevan FC kicks off Thursday night against the Fresno Fuego at Chukchansi Park, it’s not just another preseason exhibition.

For Ernest Hekimian, 69, it’s a heartwarming salute and reminder of his days with the Fresno Ararat Soccer Club.

The year was 1970 and Hekimian was a 24-year-old striker eager to play soccer.

But as a newcomer to the San Joaquin Valley, emigrating from Soviet Russia and eventually settling in Fresno, he was left searching for that missing piece of home.

“I was asking some Armenian guys if they had a soccer team,” Hekimian said. “They had a league, they said, but they didn’t have an Armenian soccer team.”

So Hekimian made one and named it after his favorite club from the motherland: Ararat Yerevan FC.

“I chose the name because (Ararat Yerevan) was a good team, a very good team. Other villages and cities had clubs but none stronger than them,” Hekimian said.

Fresno Ararat rose through the ranks of the San Joaquin Valley Soccer League’s senior division until the club’s end in 1989.

The team was mostly coached by the late Edward Baladjanian, a visionary for the city’s youth soccer programs alongside Harold Young.

“I loved him like an older brother,” Hekimian said. “He helped a lot. We had practices in the rain, and even though he was sick, he was always out there.”

Baladjanian died in 1995, but his legacy lives on in the name of the Fresno Ararat Soccer Club, which won SJVSL titles 1977-78, ’80-’81 and ’82-’83.

In 1974, the team made an impressive run for an amateur state title, reaching the championship of the Division II Northern California Soccer Football Association.

Ararat eventually fell to Juventus Soccer Club of the Peninsula League in San Francisco.

The Fresno side fielded just two American-born players in David Hollingsworth and Greg Brittan. The rest were from all over the globe, not just Armenia, according to a 1974 Fresno Bee article: Hekimian, who was known on the field by his middle name Massis, was born in France; Yussef Aibaseeri, Kuwait; Hagop Der Boghossian, Neshian Soghomonian, Hampig Kasparian and Kaled Skuate, all from Syria; Herman Murganyan, Turkey; Fayez Shahian, Palestine; Ahamed Shomroukh from Lebanon; and Mike Ross from Scotland.

It wasn’t always about results. It was about an atmosphere created every Sunday on the soccer fields in Fresno, Tulare, Hanford and other cities around the Valley.

Hekimian’s son, Alex, 42, remembers vividly those afternoons at Romain Playground, where he would order a pita bread sandwich from one of the many food trucks and sit on the grass to watch his father play.

“It was a Sunday thing like people go to church, we’d go to soccer,” Alex Hekimian said. “It’s no joke. There was nothing else to do. It was life. Soccer was life. That’s what came first in the family.”

Holmes and Romain playgrounds were the hot spots of amateur soccer in Fresno and the sidelines would fill with hundreds of spectators – mostly the friends and families of the coaches and players.

Each team – such as Fresno Oro, Mexico, Fresno Internationals, Académica from Hanford and more – had its own rich history.

Jaime Ramirez, the Fresno Pacific men’s soccer coach who also was the Fuego’s first coach from 2003-07, remembers playing with Fresno Ararat on Sundays and the impact it had on him as a 19-year-old freshly graduated from Clovis High.

He played five years with Ararat, at the same time as his playing career at Fresno Pacific.

“It helped me make the transition from high school youth into adult soccer that eventually propelled me into the kind of soccer player I became. It was very competitive,” Ramirez said.

But as much as the personal growth, he remembers the impact the SJVSL clubs had in the region.

“It laid a foundation of soccer in this community,” he said. “It was the golden era of soccer in the San Joaquin Valley. It was a beginning point that, in an amateur way, professionalized the sport in the area.”

It’s been more than 40 years since Ararat Yerevan FC last visited Fresno. In 1974, the club played an exhibition against Mexican side Jalisco in front of a sellout crowd at Ratcliffe Stadium. It was part of a three-stop California tour for Ararat Yerevan FC, which was celebrating its 1973 Soviet Cup championship.

“It was packed,” Ernest Hekimian recalled. “There was no place to walk.”

This week’s return visit by the team sparked fond memories of that visit, as Hekimian ruffled through old newspaper clips and photos from that day.

“It was very exciting. I was following them like a little kid,” he said.

But most of all, it was the the beautiful game and the joy it brought to him and his brothers on the soccer field.

“It was pleasure and happiness to bring the Armenian young men together, to do something together we did back home. We were all so happy.”

“Soccer,” Hekimian added, “it made Fresno home.”

On January 15, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian started an official visit to Bulgaria.

From the airport Foreign Minister Nalbandian headed to the Presidential Palace of Bulgaria, where he was received by the President Rosen Plevneliev.

Welcoming the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, the President of Bulgaria mentioned that Bulgarian and Armenian peoples are tied with historical friendly similarities, and Sofia is interested in the further development of bilateral cooperation. President Plevneliev stressed that Bulgaria is proud of its fellow Armenians, who made considerable input in the prosperity of the country and today continue to play an important role in public, economic and cultural life of Bulgaria.

Expressing gratitude for the reception, Minister Nalbandian conveyed to President Plevneliev the greetings and good wishes of Serzh Sargsyan, President of Armenia.

During the conversation, both sides highlighted their readiness to give a new impetus to the Armenian-Bulgarian relations towards the intensification of political dialogue, expansion of legal framework and development of trade and economic cooperation. As prospective areas of cooperation they outlined high technologies, agriculture, renewable energy and tourism.

Bulgarian President presented the country’s European policy, reforms being undertaken towards the economic development of the country.

President Plevneliev and Minister Nalbandian exchanged views on a range of international and regional issues and ways to resolve them.

In this context, Minister Nalbandian presented efforts exerted by Armenia and the OSCE Minsk group Co-Chairs for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Bulgarian President stressed the support of his country to the Co-Chairs’ activity, outlining that issue should be settled exclusively through peaceful means. “I believe that peace depends on the observation of rules and international agreements by all sides. The use of weapons is just proof of a lack of arguments”, stressed the President of Bulgaria.

Afterwards, Edward Nalbandian was hosted in the National Assembly of Bulgaria, where he had a meeting with Tsetska Tsacheva, Speaker of the Parliament.

Foreign Minister of Armenia expressed gratitude to the Bulgarian authorities for their caring attitude towards the Armenian community, mentioning that their ancestors mostly came to Bulgaria 100 years ago, surviving the Genocide.

Foreign Minister of Armenia thanked for the declaration of the Parliament of Bulgaria adopted on April 24 of the last year on the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

At the meeting the role of parliamentary diplomacy in the development of intergovernmental relations was stressed, and ways to activate inter-parliamentary ties and tighten cooperation within parliamentary assemblies of international organizations were discussed.

Speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament outlined the necessity to boost high-level political dialogue and ties between the Parliaments of the two countries. Tsetska Tsacheva reaffirmed her invitation to the Speaker of National Assembly of Armenia to visit Bulgaria and expressed hope that it will be possible to organize the visit this year. She also expressed confidence that the expansion of cooperation between the two Parliaments would contribute to the deepening of relations between Bulgaria and Armenia.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia attached importance to the activity of Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Groups and in this regard stressed importance of having Manvel Badeyan, Head of the Armenia-Bulgaria Friendship Group, in the delegation headed by him.

Foreign Minister Nalbandian presented to the Speaker the details of efforts exerted by Armenia and the OSCE Minsk group Co-Chairs for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

On the same day negotiations between Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Bulgaria Edward Nalbandian and Daniel Mitov, correspondingly, were held, which started in the tête-à-tête format, then continued in the presence of delegations.

Welcoming Edward Nalbandian, Daniel Mitov mentioned that relations between Bulgaria and Armenia are more than just friendly: they go back for centuries. He found symbolic that in the Middle Ages some Bulgarian Kings married Armenian women. “Bulgarians and Armenians have fought side by side in a number of the Balkan Wars. Armenia is an important international partner of Bulgaria and an old friend. Today’s visit gives a new momentum to bilateral ties and provides an opportunity to discuss new projects”, said Daniel Mitov.

Expressing gratitude for the invitation to visit Sofia, Edward Nalbandian stressed that Armenia attaches great importance to the close historical relations with Bulgaria based on the traditional friendship and cultural ties of our nations, common destiny and mutual sympathy.

The Ministers outlined the necessity to give new impetus to political dialogue between the countries through mutual visits and undertake additional efforts for the further deepening and development of cooperation. “Political dialogue, cooperation in the areas of trade, economy and culture between Armenia and Bulgaria have a solid potential for development, and we are determined to undertake practical steps to provide new substance and dynamics to our cooperation”, mentioned the Foreign Minister of Armenia.

The Ministers touched upon numerous issues on bilateral agenda, discussed the prospects of development of cooperation in different fields of mutual interest.

Thoughts were exchanged on the strengthening of legal framework, development of inter-parliamentary ties, holding of regular consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the two states, enhancement of cooperation within the international organizations, in the areas of education and culture, trade and economy. The sides attached importance to the activity of Inter-Governmental Committee on Economic Cooperation.

In this regard, Foreign Minister of Bulgaria mentioned that the construction of infrastructure connecting the Black Sea and the South Caucasus, exploration of its potential is an important direction of bilateral relations.

Within the context of Bulgaria’s chairmanship in the Council of Europe the priorities of Bulgarian chairmanship were discussed.

The interlocutors touched upon the Armenia-European Union relations, on-going negotiations on the Armenia-EU new legal document. Minister Mitov reaffirmed Bulgaria’s support to the strengthening and development of cooperation of Armenia with the EU.

Views were exchanged on pressing regional and international issues, i.e. Ukrainian crisis, implementation of Iran nuclear deal, situation in the Middle East, in particular, Syrian crisis.

Edward Nalbandian presented to Daniel Mitov the recent developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, the joint efforts by Armenia and the Minsk Group Co-Chairs for a peaceful resolution of the NK conflict.

FM of Armenia invited his counterpart to visit Yerevan.

The meeting was followed by a joint press conference.

Foreign Minister of Bulgaria hosted an official dinner in honour of the Foreign Minister of Armenia.

In the Bulgarian Parliament Edward Nalbandian met the members of Bulgaria-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group. Foreign Minister of Armenia commended activities and initiatives of the members of the Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group aimed at the development of relation between the two countries.

On the evening of January 15, Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with representatives of the Bulgarian-Armenian organizations and unions, presented the purpose of his visit, meetings held and agreements reached, answered numerous questions on the agenda of Armenia’s foreign policy raised by the Bulgarian Armenians.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia mentioned, “It is a great honour to hear from the Bulgarian leadership during all the meetings word
s of appreciation addressed to the Armenian community in regard with the role and importance it plays in the country’s life.”

Photo: Sputnik/ Dmitriy Vinogradov

 

Turkey will not be able to violate the Syria airspace after Russia had deployed S-400 defense system in Hmeymim airabse, Russian president Vladimir Putin told journalists during the press-conference in Moscow, Sputnik News reports.

The Azerbaijani side undertook infringement attempts in three directions to the east of the line of contract between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan last night.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army were quick to spot the advancement of the Azerbaijani special unites and force the rival to retreat, incurring losses.

While retreating, the rival left the weapons meant for the special operation.

The NKR Defense Army incurred no losses.

Armenia, the first Christian nation in the world, could be a good holiday destination this winter for those who want to savor the old world charm along with modernity, the writes.

“Tucked away in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia, this mountainous country is eagerly waiting to welcome you with its rich platter of heritage, culture, hospitality, breathtaking landscapes and feel-at-home ambience. From Mt Ararat (the traditional site of landing of Noah’s Arc which is now in Turkey) to the world’s largest mountain lake (Sevan), Armenia promises a thrilling and wholesome vacation,” the author writes.

Armenia’s culture trek will be a journey from the Khor Virap monastery in the Ararat plain where St Gregory, the Illuminator, was imprisoned for 14 years by Armenian King Tiridates III, a pagan. A 40-minute drive from Yerevan will lead to this historical place overlooking Mt Ararat. Later, St Gregory became the king’s mentor and they led proselytizing activity in the country. The place could be the first port of call in Yerevan for visitors.

The next day, the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, founded by Gregory the Illuminator, could be on the top of the tour list. Considered the oldest cathedral in the world, this structure replaced a pre-existing temple, symbolizing the conversion of paganism to Christianity. The cathedral in Vagharsapat city was listed as a World Heritage Site by the Unesco in 2000.

Etchmiadzin is the seat of the Catholicos, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The altar is built over an ancient pagan fire worshipping pit. The surrounding grounds have gardens and khachkars (cross stones). There is a bookstore inside the compound selling gifts, crosses and jewelry.

Capital Yerevan or Erebuni, has a lot to offer to tourists. From the dancing fountains at the Republic Square, The State Opera House to the Cascade Complex, visitors are spoilt for choice. A walk around the capital at night is an absolute delight. After a hard day’s work, people from all walks of life hang out at the Republic Square to see the colorful fountains.

For shoppers, a visit to the open-air ‘Vernissage’ market is a must. From vintage meat, old guns, knives, semi-precious stones, jewelry, traditional carpets, medallions to pets, it is an amazing place, which was set up by Armenian artists in the Eighties to display their works. Buyers should have adequate bargaining skills and prices can come down dramatically.

A must visit is Garni, the only pagan temple in the country believed to be built by King Tiridates 1 in the first century AD for sun god Mihr. It was converted into a royal summer house for the sister of Tiridates 3 after Armenia converted to Christianity. It was destroyed in an earthquake in 1679 and was reconstructed later. The temple boasts 24 columns resting on an elevated podium, and unlike other Greco-Roman temples, it is made of basalt.

A trip to this country is incomplete without a visit to the genocide memorial. Genocide is not just any term for Armenians, it is what defines the country and stirs emotions. It is estimated that 1.5 million people lost their lives in the Ottoman government’s systematic extermination of Armenians inside their historic homeland, which lies within the territory constituting the present-day Republic of Turkey. However, Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, denies it.

The photographs and accounts of survivors at the memorial hark back to the country’s dark past. A melancholic tune is played at the place all the time in memory of those who lost their lives.

AP Photo/ Burhan Ozbilici

 

The international backlash against Turkey has continued, with the Arab League being the latest organization to condemn the deployment of Turkish troops in Northern Iraq, labeling the incident an “intervention,” reports.

Alisa Gevorgyan
Public Radio of Armenia

He joined the Artsakh War in 1991. He was one of the most talented and experienced commanders. He was posthumously bestowed the title of the Artsakh Hero. Monte Melkonian died on June 12, 1993. Today is Monte’s birthday.

“Monte was a brilliant commander, an exceptional soldier, but he remained in the history and the hearts of people first of all thanks to his honesty and fairness,” says Alek Yenigomshyan, Director of “Monte Melkonian” NGO and ex-member of ASALA.

“The decisions to fight and die for the Motherland are never made in one day, they are born with a man. Monte was a hero, a man of exceptional courage, a skilled serviceman. But the human qualities were his greatest privilege. He was honest, fair and extremely modest.”  Alek Yenigomshyan is confident Monte would not like to be remembered on several occasions over the year, to be glorified and praised. “He didn’t need it, but we need it,” he said.

According to Yenigomshyan, Monte was absolutely indifferent to material values. Honesty and moral were the most precious values to him. Without these qualities he would not inspire hope and confidence and would not be adored by all.

Bloodshed was not Monte’s aim on the battlefield. He even gave his blood to save the life of a wounded Azerbaijani captive. Monte came to Armenia, when many were leaving. Monte did not know what despair was.

Russian cruiser Moskva which has a maritime analogue of S-300 systems in Latakia is able to destroy any potentially dangerous target in the air, Russian Defense Minister Shoigu said, Sputnik News reports.

The parents of Lola Ouzounian, a 17-year-old Armenian girl who was attending the concert at Bataclan when the venue was attacked by terrorists on Friday, confirmed her death, adding they had identified her remains, Asbarez reports.

Lola was attending the Eagles of Death Metal concert at Bataclan when the terrorists stormed the venue. During the commotion the father and daughter were separated. There has been search for Lola since Friday.

Paris became the latest target of attacks by groups affiliated with the Islamic State. French officials put the death toll at 129, with 352 injured, 99 of them critically when terrorists attacked several sites in Paris on Friday, one of them the Stade de France, where French President Francois Hollande was attending a friendly match between France and Germany.

A date for Ouzounian’s funeral services has not been announced.