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St. Garabed Church Inaugurated in Jordan

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St-Karapet-JordanThe Armenian St. Karept Church in Jordan was inaugurated in a ceremony attended by church and state officials, including Armenia’s President Serzh Sarkisian.

Representatives of the local Armenian community welcomed President Sarkisian and his delegation at the entrance of the church with bread and salt.

Secretary General of the Religious Primacy and the Local National Council Nerses Nersesyan offered a welcoming speech.

The Armenian community of Jerusalem with the support of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem took the initiative to build the church at the Baptism Site of Jesus Christ on the east bank of the Jordan River in 2009.

The groundbreaking ceremony in 2009 featured religious leaders and representatives of the Armenian community.

President Sarkisian has been in Jordan on an official visit since Wednesday.

Armenia president starts his visit to Jordan

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President of armenian-president-jordanArmenia Serzh Sargsyan started his official visit to Jordan at the invitation of King Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein

The head of Armenian held private meeting with King Abdullah II to discuss prospects for development of relations in different areas. They noted importance of political dialogue, deepening of economic cooperation and efficient use of existing potential.

The private talks were followed by an extended meeting with the participation of delegations, signing of documents aimed at strengthening and deepening of Armenia-Jordan cooperation in the field of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, lifting of visa requirements for citizens having diplomatic passports, cooperation on healthcare, investments, tourism, agriculture, civil aviation. They also touched upon creation of Armenia-Jordan business council.

A working dinner was given in honor of the President of Armenia.

The Vahe and Armine Meghrouni Lecture Series in Armenian Studies

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Thursday, November 6, 2014
1010 Humanities Gateway, UC Irvine Campus

6:00 PM Reception
6:30 PM Lecture 
 “Memory and Identity:  A Journey Through Historic Armenia”
by Professor Barlow Der Mugredchian
Please join us on Thursday, November 6th for the first lecture in the Vahe and Armine Meghrouni Lecture Series of the 2014-2015 academic year.  UCI School of Humanities had a last-minute opportunity to secure Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Professor of Armenian Studies at Fresno State, to come speak at UCI next week, and we wanted to capitalize on this fabulous opportunity. 
Complimentary Parking in Lot 7
A formal invitation with full details will be sent by week’s end.  Please contact Marijana Lekousis at marijana@uci.edu with any questions. 

 

Iran, A conference dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the creation of the Armenian town of Julfa Nor in Isfahan

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arton104732-480x334Anniversaire the 400th anniversary of the creation of the Armenian town of Julfa Nor, on the outskirts of Isfahan, was particularly marked by a three-day conference held in the community center Ararat, which traditionally hosts major events punctuating the cultural and community life of the Armenian community. The conference opened on October 21 in the presence of the governor and deputy governor of Isfahan, the head of religious affairs

France Hosts Talks Between Armenia and Azerbaijan

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By SYLVIE CORBET

WireAP_5dd41a58299545f9b8128352c3d1924e_16x9_992The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia restarted a dialogue Monday during a three-way meeting in Paris with French president Francois Hollande, in an effort to ease tensions in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region of the southern Caucasus.

Armenian President Serge Sarkisian and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev agreed Monday to exchange information on the persons who disappeared during the six-year separatist war that ended in 1994. The process will be conducted under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to a written statement released by the French presidency.

They also agreed to continue the dialogue at new meeting in September 2015 on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York.

Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan but it and some surrounding territory have been under the control of Armenian soldiers and local Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire. Since then, there have been sporadic clashes, but last summer tensions rose sharply as 19 soldiers were killed in multiple confrontations.

Years of diplomatic efforts under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have made little visible progress in resolving the dispute.

Earlier Monday, Hollande met separately with each leader.

During a one-to-one meeting with Aliyev, the French president evoked the situation of the prominent human right activist Leila Yunus, who is jailed in Azerbaijan. Yunus was arrested with her husband and charged with spying for Armenia last July.

Aliyev “has made commitments” on that matter, said a top French official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak publicly on the matter. He didn’t give details because of the sensitiveness of the issue.

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs start meeting with Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents in Paris

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OSCE meeting“The meeting of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs with Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents started,” Armenian President’s spokesperson Arman Saghatelyan wrote in his Twitter microblog. 

Armenian and French Presidents held a bilateral meeting earlier in the Palais de l’Élysée, and later at 9pm (Yerevan time) French President is expected to convene trilateral meeting with Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents.

Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents to meet on October 27

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aliyev-sarkisianThe meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents will take place on Monday in Paris.

According to the French media, the meeting will be held in Elysee Palace. President Francois Hollande will hold separate meetings with Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev. Later the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will have an opportunity to meet tête-à-tête.

As reported earlier, President Hollande offered to host a meeting during his visits to Yerevan and Baku in May.

Armenian businessman killed in Mexico

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Ensenada1An Armenian businessman was killed in Ensenada, Mexico.

When he had left a restaurant and approached his car, the killers approached and shot him.

According to the police, the victim was Hayk Rushayan, 38, who was originally from Armenia and was granted Mexican citizenship.

Minutes before his death, Rushayan was withdrawing money from a bank for his business, Ensenada.net reported.

According to investigation, the thieves followed and shot him, and Rushayan died on the spot.

The attackers fled the scene on a car with American license plates, but some time thereafter, they left the vehicle behind and fled in an unknown direction.

The police are searching for the killers.

Hayk Rushayan had a waste paper recycling plant in Ensenada, in the Valle Dorado region.

 

Ankara Mayor Makes Bigoted Remarks Against Armenians, Kurds

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ankara-mayorANKARA—Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek made provocative remarks concerning Kurds, Armenians and atheists on his Twitter page on Tuesday, reports Today’s Zaman.

The mayor shared three consecutive tweets about Kurds, religion, and Armenians. He first shared a video from the Cihan news agency containing old footage of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) members entertaining other PKK members with a comedy skit poking fun at salat (Islamic ritualistic prayer). Alongside the video, the mayor commented: “It’s these types of PKK [members] that don’t want a peace process or an end to war. They are the enemies of Islam. Here is proof.”

He continued in another tweet, “Peace to the Kurds in the east who are putting their lives on the line for the nation and solidarity and for Islam.” In his next tweet, Gökçek continued, “But there are those posing as Kurds but are actually Armenian atheists… (By the way, I absolve our Armenian brothers and sisters that are citizens of their nation.)” The mayor later deleted two of the controversial tweets (keeping the one with the video), though Twitter users were quick to respond with comments.

What the mayor is referring to are “hidden” Armenians who were often forcefully Islamified and Kurdified among Kurds in the Dersim mountains to avoid continued persecution during the Genocide of Armenians in 1915. There are Armenians among Alevi and Turkish communities as well.

Hayko Bağdat, an Armenian columnist for the Taraf daily, tweeted back to the mayor, “Which category do I fall under, boss?” Later, Today’s Zaman spoke over the phone with Bağdat, asking him about his views on the matter, and he explained: “This is plain racism. It’s prejudice on many levels. It’s not just against one demographic of people but against several: Armenians, Kurds, atheists. It is hate speech, and if this [Turkey] were a civil country then he [Gökçek] would be removed from his position for these remarks. But these types of remarks have become commonplace with [Justice and Development Party] AK Party politicians; we see it in the president.”

In August, a similar incident involving racist comments came from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan just two weeks before the presidential elections. During a television broadcast on Star TV and NTV, President Erdoğan said: “Let all Turks in Turkey say they are Turks and all Kurds say they are Kurds. What is wrong with that? You wouldn’t believe the things they have said about me. They have said I am Georgian … they have said even uglier things — they have called me Armenian, but I am Turkish.” Criticisms were raised about Erdoğan’s assertion that being Armenian is “ugly.”

The mayor’s Twitter account continuously draws public attention, as Gökçek is known to tweet on many topics regardless of their relevance to his political responsibilities. He has over 2 million followers.