YEREVAN (Tert.am), March 9–Although solidarity with Azerbaijan has led Turkey to tie the approval of the Armenian protocols to progress on Karabakh, there are questions as to whether Baku sufficiently opposed a recent Armenian Genocide resolution in the US Congress, reports Turkish news source Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review.
A key partner in US- [...]
(Reuters) March 9 — A US resolution that branded as genocide the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One will seriously damage US Turkish relations, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on March 6.
NATO member Turkey, an ally crucial to US interests in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the Middle East, has expressed its [...]
YEREVAN (RFE/RL), March 5–Just hours after recalling its ambassador to Washington, Turkey urged the U.S. government on Friday to thwart further progress of a draft congressional resolution that describes the mass killings and deportations of Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also warned President Barack Obama against using the word “genocide” [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), March 05—The Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian said that the adoption of the Resolution on the Armenian Genocide by the US Congress Foreign Affairs Committee is a testament to the American people’s devotion to universal values, the Armenian TV channel Yerkir Media reports.
On March 4, the House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a resolution on [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), March 4—Armenian President Serge Sarkisian at the meeting held on Wednesday with a delegation headed by the President of the European People’s Party, Wilfried Martens, discussed the prospects of Armenia’s European integration.
President Sarkisian also highlighted the importance of the visit of the senior officials and said that such visits open new horizons to the [...]
(Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters), March 3–The US aerospace and defense industry is urging House of Representatives lawmakers to reject a measure that would call a World War One-era massacre of Armenians by Turkish forces genocide, warning it could jeopardize US exports to Turkey.
The chief executives of Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co, Raytheon Co, United Technologies Corp [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), March 3—According to the Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, despite the global financial crisis, the total number of foreign visitors there in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2009 has increased up to 10 percent over the same period in 2008.
Last year, tourists from Mozambique, [...]
YEREVAN (RFE/RL), March 3–Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian welcomed on Tuesday the reopening of Georgia’s main border crossing with Russia and confirmed reports that a Russian-Georgian agreement to that effect was reached under Armenian mediation.
“I can confirm that [Russian-Georgian] negotiations indeed took place in Armenia and with Armenia’s mediation,” Nalbandian told journalists. “And now that the [...]
WASHINGTON (Armenian Weekly), March 2—On March 1, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) launched an array of grassroots, media, advertising, and advocacy initiatives as part of its “End Turkey’s Gag Rule” campaign to encourage the US Congress to adopt legislation H.Res.252 calling on the US government to put the lessons of the Armenian Genocide to [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), March 1—The Permanent Representative of Armenia to the UN, Ambassador Karen Nazarian, gave John Holmes, the Deputy Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency, a bank notification for the allocation of the Armenian state budget aid, amounting to $100,000 to the earthquake victims in Haiti, revealed the press service of Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign [...]
BY ANTRANIG DEREYAN
VANCOUVER (Armenian Weekly), March 1–The ladies’ slalom kicked off at 10 a.m. as a field of 87 took to the track. The conditions were not as hazardous as the giant slalom, but were still difficult to maneuver through.
The pace was set by German skier Maria Riesch, who took only 50:75 to finish [...]
WASHINGTON, DC, February 26 – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in response earlier today to a series of questions during her testimony before Congress, broke with the Department of State’s longstanding pattern of aggressively opposing legislation recognizing the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
During her testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), February 26—The famous Spanish tenor Placido Domingo will come to Armenia to take part in the 11th International Festival “21st Century Perspectives.”
As the Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan said on Thursday, many internationally famous singers and music bands will take part in this festival that will take place in 2010 in Yerevan.
Such musicians [...]
YEREVAN (RFE/RL), February 26–Azerbaijan stepped up its threats to win back Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian-controlled territories surrounding it by force on Thursday, with Defense Minister Safar Abiyev speaking of a growing likelihood of “a great war” with Armenia.
“For 15 years diplomacy has not achieved any concrete results and Azerbaijan cannot wait another 15 years,” Abiyev said, [...]
BY NANORE BARSOUMIAN
(Armenian Weekly) February 25–On Feb. 14, ARMTV, Armenia’s public television company, held the country’s national final to select the winner(s) that will represent Armenia at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, Norway from May 25-29. The event took place in the National Opera Theatre in Yerevan and was broadcast live. Nine contestants [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), February 25—The Armenian GM Levon Aronyan took third place in the chess super-tournament in Linares (Spain) that ended on Thursday, reports the official website of the tournament.
In the last 10th round Aronyan, playing with the white pieces, defeated Vugar Gashimov (Azerbaijan) and had his first victory in the tournament. The other nine games [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), February 24—”The exclusion of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict matter from the context of the Armenian-Turkish protocols is a double victory for Armenia,” said Richard Giragosian, the head of the Armenian Center for Strategic and National Studies (ACNIS), on Wednesday.
“First, it has spoiled relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan, and secondly, Armenia, thus makes it clear [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), February 24— President Serge Sarkisian signed a bill on amending the “Law on Foreigners” adopted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, as announced by the presidential press service.
Due to the amendments in the “Law on Foreigners,” the process of obtaining permits for foreigners to work in Armenia becomes more simplified. [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), February 22—The NATO delegation welcomes Armenia’s implementation of activities in 2009 under the Individual Partnership Action Plan Armenia-NATO (IPAP), as reported by the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia.
According to the report, a group of experts of the Alliance visited Armenia to assess the implementation of IPAP in 2009.
The preliminary results [...]
Raffi Hovannisian to Deliver Keynote Luncheon Address
YEREVAN (Armenian Weekly), February 23–Policy Forum Armenia (PFA) will hold its Second Annual Forum in Washington, D.C. from Feb. 28 to March 2 to provide an opportunity for policy practitioners, academics, and the public to discuss Armenia-Diaspora relations, especially perspectives on and approaches to the present-day challenges facing the [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), February 22—”The historic decision on the secession from Azerbaijan, that was adopted on February 20, 1988, at the special session of the Nagorno-Karabakh Regional Council of People’s Deputies, was a unified manifestation of the will of the Karabakh people,” said Ashot Ghulyan, the Chairman of the National Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh. He reported this [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), February 22—”The reconciliation of the Armenian-Turkish relations serves the interests of Turkey, and Armenia’s interests are not taken into account,” historian Armen Karapetyan said.
“This course is aimed to freeze the process of recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the whole world,” he said at a press conference on Monday.
According to the historian, Turkey [...]
YEREVAN (PanARMENIAN.Net), February 19– If Turkey wants to be seen as a credible international player, one whose signature has a value, it will need to open the border this year and ratify the protocols in the coming two months, Secretary General of European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) said.
“Armenia, as a constructive player, has ensured the preparation [...]
YEREVAN (RFE/RL), February 19–Iran has its own considerations and views about a peacekeeping force that could be deployed in the Karabakh conflict zone, according to the Islamic Republic’s chief diplomat in Armenia.
Ambassador Seyed Ali Saghaeyan told a press conference in Yerevan on Friday that “Iran shares a common border with Karabakh and therefore we surely [...]
YEREVAN (RFE/RL), February 18–Armenia’s London-based former prime minister, who recently co-organized with a British royal a major fundraiser to help rebuild several historical and architectural cites in his native city Yerevan, has voiced a strong desire to be ‘useful’ for his homeland. But Armen Sarkissian, who briefly headed the Armenian government in 1996-1997, stresses he [...]
YEREVAN (A1 Plus), February 17–”Help people suffering from an earthquake in Haiti!”
The sentence could be heard in Yerevan streets today.
Four groups of young people today held a charity drive in downtown Yerevan. They went up to passers-by with a request to help Haitians.
“There were people who gave us 1000 dram,” the volunteers of Armenian Red [...]
BY RAZMIG SHIRINIAN
All four articles in the current issue of the Armenian Review have undertaken the scrupulous task of analyzing the concept of civil society in Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora.
After a brief mention of the constitutive and functional features of a civil society, Armine Ishkanian in her article points out that Armenia has largely [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), February 16—The process laid out in the “Madrid principles” for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement will continue, the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, announced at a press conference on Tuesday.
“As for the working document, which from time to time is put into discussions by the co-chairs, the proposals that–according to the Sochi agreements–the [...]
YEREVAN (Armenian Weekly), February 16—In an interview with the Al Jazeera New Network conducted on Feb. 12, Armenian President Serge Sarkisian said he “absolutely” wants President Barack Obama to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
Answering a question about Obama’s campaign pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Sarkisian said the latter had followed up on his pledge but [...]
YEREVAN (Newsarmenia.ru), February 11 —The president of Armenia Serge Sarkisian and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Head of State of the United Kingdom, discussed the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.
President Sarkisian was received by Her Majesty on Thursday during his working visit to the UK.
At the meeting, apart from normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations, the prospects of the development [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), February 10—The educational foundation “Ayb” is beginning the registration of Armenian schools for participation in the international mathematical competition Mathematical Kangaroo, the press service of the foundation informed.
More than 1200 schools have already received a package that includes invitations to the competition, the application forms, the detailed rules of the competition and other necessary [...]
YEREVAN (Tert.am) – The Semi-Final Allocation Draw for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest took place in Oslo, Norway, reports the official Eurovision Song Contest website.
During the Semi-Final Allocation Draw, it was determined which countries will be represented in which of the two Semi-Finals of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest.
Armenia will be competing in the second [...]
YEREVAN (Tert.am) – Turkey’s National Education Minister Nimet Çubukçu has proposed that one of the country’s schools should be named after slain journalist, and editor of Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, Hrant Dink, said Çubukçu herself in an interview with Turkish daily Today’s Zaman.
Asked how she would feel if one of Turkey’s schools were named after Hrant [...]
YEREVAN (Armenian Weekly), February 5—US-based Armenian and Jewish community leaders launched an online petition urging people to sign a letter to President Obama and Congress that calls for the immediate passage of H.Res.252, the Armenian Genocide Resolution pending in Congress, announced the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Massachusetts.
Joining the ANC of Mass. in the Coalition [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), February 4–The final list of participants of the Armenian delegation to the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver (12th of February 12-March 1) has been confirmed, the press service of the Armenian Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs informed.
Skiers Sergey Mikaelyan (Ashotsk, Cross-Country Skiing, Men’s 15 km), Christina Khachatryan (Gyumri,Cross-Country Skiing, Ladies’ 10 km.), Ani-Matilda [...]
YEREVAN (RFE/RL), February 2–The chief foreign policy aide to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday accused Russia and the West of supporting Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and thereby delaying its peaceful resolution.
“I will be frank. I believe Armenia is backed by some powers which is why it is not willing to make any steps [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti Armenia), February 1 — On Monday the press service of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Ministry of Defense informed that a violation of the ceasefire agreement took place on the part of Azerbaijan.
According to the report, cases of shots firing were registered near the military line of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan on January 31 and [...]
BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
The show is finally over! The international community is no longer buying the endless Turkish excuses for refusing to ratify the protocols. Armenian officials, who naively believed that Turkey would open its border and establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, are beginning to question the Turks’ sincerity and contemplating the possibility of the protocols’ [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti Armenia), January 29 — The First Minister for Wales, Carwyn Jones, recognized the Armenian Genocide, the newspaper “Azg” writes. According to the report on January 27 Jones laid a wreath at the memorial to the victims of the genocide in Cardiff, Wales.
The Armenian community in Wales regarded Jones’s act as a major step [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti Armenia), January 27 — On Monday the president of Armenia Serge Sarkisian signed a decree awarding a number of officers and volunteer soldiers with medals on the occasion of Army Day for their courage and self-sacrifice for the protection of their motherland, the presidential press service informs.
In particular, Seyran Vantsyan was awarded a “Services [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), January 27–Armenia considers Georgia to be a brotherly and friendly country and is ready to deepen relations with it, the president of Armenia Serge Sarkisian said on Tuesday at a meeting with the prime minister of Georgia, Nika Gilauri.
“We are good neighbors and we should communicate often and discuss all the questions that [...]
BBC News, January 26–The head of Turkey’s armed forces has responded angrily to a newspaper report accusing the military of plotting to overthrow the government.
Gen Ilker Basbug delivered a televised address in which he warned that the military’s patience over a stream of allegations had limits.
He insisted coups were a thing of the past, and [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia)–Beginning this year, the headmasters of all Armenian schools will be required to pass obligatory certification to determine if they fit their positions. The decision was announced by the Armenian Minister of Education and Science, Armen Ashotyan, at a press conference on Friday.
He said that there are serious problems with the quality of management [...]
ISTANBUL (Armenian Weekly, Combined Sources)–Thousands gathered Tues., Jan. 19 at the site where Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was murdered three years ago in Istanbul.
The crowd, numbering around 2,000 to 3,000 according to police, braved snowfall to gather outside the offices of the Agos newspaper where Dink was editor-in-chief, chanting “The murderer state has to account [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA) — In December 2009, 227 babies were born in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, up from 206 for the same period in 2008, reported the National Statistical Service of NKR.
In December 2009 the population increase was up by 26 people on par with the same period in the previous year.
Also registered in the same month [...]
YEREVAN (Tert.am)–Armenian President Serge Sarkisian visited Moscow at the invitation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The two presidents met privately in Medvedev’s residence near Moscow.
During their meeting, the heads of the two strategically allied states discussed projects of cooperation planned for 2010, the future broadening of political dialogue, and the expansion of economic cooperation. Military cooperation [...]
YEREVAN (Tert.am) — Pope Benedict XVI expressed his support for the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement during the traditional New Year speech before ambassadors in the Vatican, reports ANS Press.
The event was also attended by the Turkish ambassador to the Vatican, Dr. Kenan Gursoy.
The pope said he is in favor of Turkish-Armenian rapprochement and expressed hope that it [...]
YEREVAN (Tert.am)–According to the foreign clergy relations department of Moscow’s Patriarchate, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russians, Kirill I, will visit Armenia in mid-March.
Planned during the visit are meetings with Armenia’s leadership and Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin II.
The same source also informed the press that, on January 21, [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA) — The main objective of the Armenian government in 2010 will be to develop specific tools to diversify the economy, Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsyan said in an interview with ARKA News Agency.
According to him, it is clear that 2009 was difficult for business and led to policy changes in virtually all businesses.
“However, [...]
YEREVAN (ArmeniaNow.com)–As expected, the Constitutional Court of Armenia has ruled that the Armenian-Turkish protocols on establishing diplomatic ties and bilateral relations are in accordance with the Armenian Constitution. The Court issued its finding after five hours of deliberations held behind closed-doors Tuesday afternoon.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun, which organized a picket outside the Constitutional [...]
YEREVAN (tert.am)–Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, will be in Armenia for an official visit from January 13–14, said head of the Press and Information Department at the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balayan.
Meetings with Armenia’s President Serge Sarkisian and Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Nalbandian are scheduled to be held.
YEREVAN–In 2009, Armenia Tree Project (ATP) planted more than 56,000 trees at dozens of urban and rural sites around the country as part of its Community Tree Planting (CTP) program. The huge public demand for trees and the professional capacity of ATP program staff, along with the production of fruit and decorative trees at the [...]
(ARMENIAN WEEKLY)–”Open” is a beautiful, haunting autobiography by Andre Agassi, one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court.
“Watch your volleys, he yells—or tries to. An Armenian, born in Iran, my father speaks five languages, none of them well, and his English [...]
YEREVAN (Armenianow.com) — Politically speaking, every move that took place in Armenia since September 1 (and some even before) of this passing year is viewed through the prism of the Armenia-Turkey foreign policy protocols.
The passing year was marked by the Turkish-Armenian dialogue. Everything else, even the Karabakh issue, was perceived in that highlight.
The process started [...]
YEREVAN (A1 plus) – On December 24-25 the first consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and the United Arab Emirates were held in Yerevan.
The Armenian delegation was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosyan and the UAE delegation by First Deputy Foreign Minister Tarek Al Heidan.
The consultations were held [...]
YEREVAN (Tert.am)–Former world champion Garry Kasparov is preparing to face off against experts in the popular Russian game show “What? Where? When?” on December 27.
The team of experts on the show includes Vladimir Belkin, Alexander Druz, Boris Levin, Elena Orlova, Alexander Rubin and the team leader, Maxim Potashov.
Kasparov’s team of Grandmasters is comprised of Rustam [...]
YEREVAN (ArmeniaNow.com) – The Armenian translation of Hrant Dink’s book (written in Turkish) titled “İki Yakın Halk İki Uzak Komşu” (Two Close People Two Far Neighbors), funded by the International Hrant Dink Foundation, was presented Wednesday in Yerevan.
Hrant Dink, well-known Turkish-Armenian journalist, was assassinated by a Turkish national extremist in 2007, in front of Agos [...]
Yerevan (Panorama.am) — Turkey’s FM Ahmet Davutoglu highlighted six significant messages in Turkey’s foreign policy, among them the EU, North Iraq, Iran, the US, Israel and the Armenian-Turkish normalization process, according to Hurriyet daily.
“Returning to the situation proceding the Armenian-Turkish protocols is not among the interests of any of the parties,” he said. “It would [...]
YEREVAN (Tert.am)–Events in Yerevan during this holiday season will begin on December 25 and run through till January 13, said head of the culture department at Yerevan City Hall, Lusine Martirosyan.
According to her, the New Year celebrations will begin with the symbolic ceremony of lighting the country’s main Christmas tree in central Yerevan.
This year, specialists [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–Improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations would not be started, if a Karabakh-related pre-condition was put forward, Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian said Friday at his meeting with Turkish journalists.
“It seems people in Turkey mistakenly think that there are some parallel processes. If a precondition related to Karabakh existed, the process (Armenian-Turkish relationship improvement) wouldn’t be [...]
YEREVAN (A1 plus) – On December 21 the Ambassador of Albania to Armenia, Vili Minarolli, presented the copies of his credentials to the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian.
They discussed issues of mutual interest, attaching importance to the necessity of strengthening the political, economic and cultural ties between Armenia and Albania.
The parties agreed to hold regular consultations [...]
Yerevan (Newsarmenia.ru) — President Serge Sarkisian signed a decree to award Levon Sayan the Medal of Honor for his significant contribution to the development and strengthening of the Armenian- French relations and for his long-term patriotic activity. Sayan is the manager of French singer Charles Aznavour and was a classical singer in his own right.
Photo [...]
YEREVAN (PanArmenian.net)–Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian on Thursday received Danish Ambassador to Armenia Michael Borg-Hansen who submitted his credentials to Armenia’s top diplomat.
During the meeting, Nalbandian expressed the Foreign Ministry’s willingness to assist the diplomat, hopeful that he would contribute to the implementation of an agreement concluded with Danish Foreign Minister Per Smig Moeller in June 2009. Nalbandian [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–The NGO “National Tourism Office of Armenia in Russia and CIS Countries” will open its representation office in Armenia. The NGO started its activities last November in Moscow. Maria Atayan, Director of National Tourism Office (NTO), said that the main goal of the organization is to promote tourism in Armenia.
“Armenia is a very beautiful [...]
YEREVAN (News Armenia) –The opening ceremony of the statue in honor of the outstanding Armenian astrophysicist and academic, Victor Hambardzumyan, took place on Tuesday, December 15 with the assistance of President Serge Sarkisian, Mayor of Yerevan Gagik Beglaryan and the Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan.
The sculptor Tariel Hakobyan reported to the journalists, that the monument is [...]
WASHINGTON (ARMENIAN WEEKLY)–On December 9, the U.S. House and Senate agreed upon a far-reaching fiscal year 2010 (FY10) spending measure that includes a $41 million economic aid package for Armenia, $8 million for “programs and activities” in Nagorno-Karabakh, and parity in Foreign Military Financing for Armenia and Azerbaijan, reported the Armenian National Committee of America [...]
YEREVAN (A1+)–On November 24 Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan met with his Italian counterpart Franco Fratini in Rome.
The ministers talked about courses for broadening the bilateral cooperation in different spheres, strengthening of cooperation in European and international organizations and exchanged views on the international agenda and regional issues.
According to the Foreign Ministry press service, Fratini [...]