Armenian wrestler Arthur Alexanyan won a double champion’s title at the 2013 European Championship being held in Tbilisi, Georgia.
In the final round, he beat Bulgaria’s Vladislav Metodiev.
The sportsman, who joined the competitions in the 1/16 round, had earlier celebrated victories over Swedish, Georgian, Turkish and Azerbaijani rivals.
Source: Tert – Originial Article
16:09, March 23, 2013
By Nanore Barsoumian
The U.S. Embassy cables released by WikiLeaks provide invaluable information and insight on how American diplomats assess the inner workings of Armenia’s politics in general, and key players like Raffi Hovannisian in particular. As embassy officials grappled to absorb the day-to-day politics of the country, time and again they voiced their agreement with Hovannisian’s assessment of the political landscape in the country. They often judged him—the leader of the often sole opposition faction in parliament—to be a politician of a different breed, the exception among the “traditional” opposition politicians. However, they generally frowned upon his foreign policy views, which they attributed to his diaspora background.
The Government of Armenia will sign a memorandum on cooperation with the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EurAsEC) in April, while initialing an Association Agreement with the European Union in November.
During a meeting with media representatives on March 18, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said: “Most probably in early April Armenia will be visited by the leader of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, and the Government of Armenia will sign a memorandum of cooperation.” At the same time, he said that no one is forcing Armenia to join the Customs Union.
Sargsyan also said that a delegation of the European Union would visit Yerevan to complete negotiations over the remaining chapter of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement. In fact, while signing only a memorandum with EurAsEC, Armenia will actually be signing an agreement with the EU.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on Thursday received Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Igor Popov (Russia), Jacques Faure (France) and Ian Kelly (United States).
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs arrived in Armenia after holding meetings with Nagorno-Karabakh officials in Stepanakert.
As reported by the presidential press service, the sides discussed the current stage of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and further steps.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, as well as Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the personal representative of the OSCE, Chairperson-in-Office, congratulated Sargsyan on his re-election as president of Armenia and wished him success.
Source: Armenia Now – Originial Article
The European Union is pressing ahead with its preparations for an unprecedented conference of international donors that should approve large-scale economic assistance to Armenia, according to a top EU official.
Stefan Fuele, the EU’s enlargement commissioner, said on Wednesday that Yerevan deserves to be rewarded for what he called major progress made in implementing political and economic reforms. “We can already start discussing issues related to organization of that conference,” Fuele told journalists in Brussels.
The EU first expressed readiness to organize such a forum in late 2011. Visiting Yerevan in July 2012, EU President Herman Van Rompuy indicated that it is contingent on the proper conduct of Armenia’s February 2013 presidential election.
Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan has issued a long-awaited cease-fire declaration that would be a major step towards ending a 30-year conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives in Turkey, Aljazeera reported.The ceasefire announced on Thursday, which coincides with the Kurdish New Year, or Newroz, also calls for the withdrawal of PKK likely to bases in northern Iraq.In Ocalan’s letter read out by members of parliament, Pervin Buldan, in Kurdish, and Sirri Sureyya Onder, in Turkish, he said: “In the presence of millions of witnesses, I’m telling you, let a new process begin. No to weapons, yes to politics.”We’re in such a phase that our armed forces should withdraw from the country. This is not an end, this is a beginning. Beginning of a new politics… A new era is starting. This is a political era.”"The declaration took place in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir where hundreds of thousands gathered for celebrations.Ocalan’s ceasefire is likely to be in return for wider constitutional recognition and language rights for Turkey’s up to 15 million Kurds.The peace plan is the result of written consultations between Ocalan, pro-Kurdish legislators and PKK bodies in Europe and northern Iraq, under the close monitoring of Turkish agents.Kurdish legislators has said Ocalan might ask for commissions to be established to properly monitor the ceasefire, and call for safe passage for fighters wishing to leave Turkey.Erdogan has already pledged that no militant would be “touched if they leave the land”.Nationalist opposition leader Devlet Bahceli has accused Erdogan of “treason” and “selling out the country to a bunch of bloody bandits”.
The Association Agreement negotiations between Armenia and the European Union (EU) are reaching their final stage and a pre-signed document is expected to be ready before the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Vilnius in the coming fall.
The final 12th stage of the ongoing negotiations took place in Yerevan on March 19 and 20.
Deputy foreign minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan told the press on Wednesday that although a new stage of negotiations will not be necessary, there are still procedural actions to be taken on both sides, and it is a time-consuming process, too.
11:28, March 21, 2013
The cooperation of the EU with its partner countries is stronger and is delivering positive results, indicate the country and regional reports on the progress of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in 2012 published today. Two years after the launch of a new approach to the ENP, achievements are encouraging in many areas of cooperation, although 2012 has been a challenging year due to political instability and difficult socio-economic conditions. Still, political reforms are uneven in partner countries and progress towards deep and sustainable democracy is not always linear.
11:31, March 21, 2013
The European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy published on 20 March 2013 the annual “neighbourhood package”, consisting of a joint communication (“Towards a Stronger Partnership”) making an assessment of the ENP implementation in 2012, a report on the “Partnership for Democracy and Shared prosperity” with Southern Mediterranean, an Eastern Partnership progress report, 12 country reports (on developments in 2012 and with a set of recommendations for the future), including one on Armenia, and a statistical annex.
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Armenians often wish for a tale about the Armenian Genocide and its aftermath that would make a blockbuster film and draw attention to their cause. John Balian’s new book, Gray Wolves and White Doves (CreateSpace/Amazon.com), may be that tale.
Largely autobiographical, this atmospheric novel is presented through the eyes of an innocent young boy trying to make sense of the world as he grows up amid repressive conditions in Western Armenia/Eastern Turkey during the 1960s and 70s.
This fast-paced, multi-layered narrative takes readers from Hanna Ibelin’s (a.k.a. Jonah Ibelinian’s) close-knit family life in the perilous Asia Minor region of Palu to terror and tragedy while en route to Syria’s Kamishli, to a bleak existence on the mean streets of Istanbul.
Teaneck, N.J. and Belmont, Mass. – An Armenian folktale retold by Armenian-American writer Lucine Kasbarian and illustrated by Moscow-based artist Maria Zaikina debuts with Marshall Cavendish Children’s Publishers in April 2011.
The Greedy Sparrow: An Armenian Tale
Turkish writer and publicist Ahmet Insel labels the initiative of the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party to pray namaz on the ruins of Ani as provocation.
In an interview with “A1+,” the publicist said the initiative was supported only by a small percentage of Turks.
“They offered namaz in Ani in protest against Christian rites carried out in Trabzon and Akhtamar. The leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, Devlet Bahceli said if Christians are allowed to pray inside museums, similarly he can pray namaz in Armenian churches,” said Ahmet Insel.
The Turkish writer arrived in Armenia to participate in a book festival. Presentation of Armenian version of Dialogue sur le tabou arménien (Dialogue about the Armenian Tabou) co-authored by Ahmet Insel and Michel Marian was held during the festival.
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA – KFI 640, a popular news/talk radio station hosted by Bill Handel on September 23 aired a live interview with Michael Bobelian, the writer of a new book titled Children of Armenia: A Forgotten Genocide and the Century-long Struggle for Justice
The book chronicles the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, and recounts a people’s struggle for justice in the face of a century of silence and denial.
During the interview, which was aired during the prime morning time slot, Bill Handel addressed both the efforts within the United States to ensure that the US government appropriately acknowledges the Armenian Genocide and Turkey’s ongoing denial.
Handel, a well known and nationally syndicated radio talk show host, has discussed the Armenian Genocide during past shows.
14:52, May 13, 2013
The Hungarian Parliament adopted a controversial amendment to its Freedom of Information Act on April 30, a move that will make civilian and journalistic access to information more difficult, Atlatszo.hu reported. The amendment was passed less than 48 hours after its introduction.
The amendment severely limits citizens’ access to public information, as it limits the amount of data individuals may obtain. The amendment also requires that individuals justify requests for information related to court cases, public bodies, and public officials, all information that was previously in the public domain, according to Transparency International.
A portrait painter, whose subjects are imaginary, is one of four artists in contention for the 2013 Turner Prize, BBC News reported.Lynette Yiadom-Boakye joins French installation artist Laure Prouvost, Britain’s David Shrigley and the British-German performance artist Tino Sehgal on this year’s shortlist.This year’s Turner exhibition will be held at Ebrington in Derry-Londonderry, 2013′s UK City of Culture.The winner – who will receive £25,000 – will be announced on 2 December.The other shortlisted artists will each receive £5,000.Established in 1984, the Turner Prize is awarded to a contemporary artist under 50, living, working or born in Britain, who is judged to have put on the best exhibition of the last 12 months.Previous winners include Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley and last year’s recipient, the video artist Elizabeth Price.Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, who lives and works in London, is shortlisted for her Extracts and Verses exhibition at the Chisenhale Gallery.She is of Ghanaian descent and is the first black woman to be in contention for the award.Born in 1977, she attended Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Falmouth College of Arts and the Royal Academy Schools.According to the prize’s organisers, her “intriguing” paintings “appear traditional but are in fact much more innovative”.Glasgow-based David Shrigley is best known for his humorous line drawings, but also makes sculptures, photographs, paintings and animated films.His work, which combines jokes and commentary, can be found on greetings cards, in books and in magazines, as well as in galleries.His words have been used in recordings by David Byrne and Franz Ferdinand and he directed the video for Blur’s 2009 track Good Song.Born in Macclesfield in 1968, Shrigley is shortlisted for his solo exhibition Brain Activity, at London’s Hayward Gallery.The exhibition, said the Turner Prize organisers, was a “comprehensive overview” that revealed “his black humour, macabre intelligence and infinite jest”.Born in Lille in 1978, Laure Prouvost won the fourth Max Mara art prize for women in 2011 for her short films and installation work.Based in London, she is shortlisted for her new work Wantee, featured in Tate Britain’s Schwitters in Britain exhibition, and her two-part Max Mara art prize installation.Her “unique” approach to film-making, said organisers, “employs strong story-telling, quick cuts, montage and deliberate misuse of language to create surprising and unpredictable work”.Born in 1976 and based in Berlin, Tino Sehgal has been shortlisted for his “pioneering” projects This Variation and These Associations.The latter, staged last year at Tate Modern in London, invited the public to interact with volunteers in a “live installation” staged in the gallery’s expansive Turbine Hall.”Both structured and improvised, Seghal’s intimate works consist purely of live encounters between people and demonstrate a keen sensitivity to their institutional context,” said organisers.”Through participatory means, they test the limits of artistic material and audience perception in a new and significant way.”This year’s jury is chaired by Tate Britain director Penelope Curtis and includes the curator Annie Fletcher and the writer and lecturer Declan Long.Long said the each of the four shortlisted artists represented “remarkable developments” in art.”There’s so much range here, it’s fantastic,” he told the BBC’s arts editor Will Gompertz.Bookmakers Ladbroke have made Shrigley 2/1 favourite to win the prize, ahead of Prouvost, Sehgal and Yiadom-Boakye, a 7/2 outsider.It is the first time the Turner Prize exhibition has ever been held outside England.
The Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), which boasts the second largest faction in the National Assembly, has so far remained tightlipped on its attitude towards opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian’s demand that President-elect Serzh Sargsyan admit election fraud and start transferring power to the people.
PAP spokesman Tigran Urikhanyan refused to provide any commentary on Hovannisian’s Tuesday rally and plans to stage more protests against the official outcome of the February 18 presidential election in which his party had chosen not to take part or endorse any candidate in the race.
The Monday ballot gave victory to incumbent President Sargsyan, who officially polled close to 59 percent of the vote. Hovannisian, his closest challenger, got nearly 37 percent of the vote and is currently disputing the official outcome of the election.
12:14, February 9, 2013
Today, 9 days before the presidential elections, TNS opinion is presenting the results of its survey “Poll: Armenia on the Eve of Presidential Elections” describing the voting preferences and motivations of the Armenian voters, but also their views on the on-going campaigns of the various candidates. For this TNS opinion poll, implemented together with their local partner IPSC, 1 609 face-to-face interviews were conducted in all 10 regions (marzes) and 12 communities of Yerevan between 31 January and 5 February 2013, using the highest possible standards and extensive quality control measures, as outlined below. The poll was commissioned by European Friends of Armenia (www.EuFoA.org) in order to contribute to a factual debate ahead of the elections (see below for more details about our motivation and the organisations involved).
By the end of the week the campaign in the February 18 presidential election appeared to be getting more active as the main candidates contesting the number one political post held more meetings with members of the public to try to get their messages across.
Incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, the leader of the Republican Party of Armenia, continued his campaign meetings in the regions, where he visited the Vayots Dzor province. In the town of Yeghegnadzor he met with citizens to tell them that if reelected for another five-year term in office he would make sure his government promoted agricultural cooperation and industries providing a high added value – grape and fruit growing.
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