The 1988 events in Sumgait, Azerbaijan, shocked the entire Armenianhood. Dozens of people were slaughtered, majority of them after tortures and severe beatings. Over 200 apartments were robbed and burnt. Thousands of refugees remained homeless. This year changed the lives of many people. 27-year-old Manvel Yeghiazaryan was not an exception…

Hillary Clinton's visit to the region answered many questions and, primarily, clarified the U.S. position on Karabakh and the Armenian-Turkish relations. As a matter of fact, Armenia is little concerned about other issues, which, however, is not right. But let's not climb the ladder. The visit of U.S. Secretary of State made it clear that the infamous “Madrid principles” have died unborn, and we have the “St. Petersburg principles” instead, which Azerbaijan will clearly disagree on, feeding her people primarily with tales about the “return of territories”. Some media sources in the neighboring republic have already gone as far as to say that behind closed doors Aliyev and Clinton have discussed the “return of five of the seven regions”.

Political week started with discussions of the June 18 incident at the contact line between the NKR and Azerbaijani armed forces. Member of the Republican Party of Armenia, MP Gagik Melikyan said he doesn’t think that international institutions assumed a biased stance on the incident. Nevertheless, he emphasized that Azerbaijan should have been named as the provocateur. “It was not the time to make statements admissible for both sides,” he said, hailing the reaction of Armenian and Arstakh leaders, who gave a proper response to Azerbaijan.

Cbonds Russia & CIS Fixed Income Conference kicked off in Yerevan on July 1, bringing together 200 participants from Russia, Armenia, Ukraine, Belarus and other CIS member countries. According to NASDAQ OMX Armenia CEO, Armen Melikyan, Armenian developing capital market arouses interest of the conference participants.

Chess: The opening ceremony of the 4th FIDE Women’s Grand Prix took place in Jermuk, Armenia, on June 23. Welcoming the participants and guests, FIDE President Ilyumzhinov said, “Some two years ago chess lovers had no idea about Jermuk. Now, this wonderful resort is one of chess development centers.”

Renowned Claudia Cardinale, who co-starred in Henri Verneuil’s Mayrig (Mother) film, will attend the opening ceremony of the festival. The actress will be awarded a silver copy of a thaler made by Sergei Parajanov during the years of his imprisonment.