YEREVAN: Tens of thousands of Armenians led by opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan marched on Tuesday to honour 1.5 million of their kin killed by Ottoman forces in 1915, a day after the country's prime minister resigned following more than a week of opposition rallies.
The commemorations, which are a hugely emotional event for the South Caucasus country, came after Serzh Sarkisian on Monday stunned the country by standing down from his new post as prime minister.
Sarkisian, who had previously spent a decade in power as president, was accused of a blatant power grab by the opposition, who staged days of rallies in protest.
Clutching a purple rose, the bearded Pashinyan, 42, led a huge crowd of his supporters on a commemorative march to a hilltop memorial in the capital Yerevan to honour the victims of the World War I-era killings.
Sporting his trademark khaki-coloured T-shirt and a bandaged hand, Pashinyan -- who on Wednesday is expected to hold talks on the transfer of power -- called on the marchers to avoid shouting political slogans.
The acting head of government, Karen Karapetyan, appealed for unity after the wrenching political turmoil in a country locked in a simmering territorial conflict with Azerbaijan.
Russia -- which has a military base in Armenia -- appealed for stability but said it would not interfere.
Many Armenians said it was important the country managed to avoid bloodletting ahead of the highly symbolic commemorations.
"Thank God Armenian blood was not shed on the eve of the Genocide Remembrance Day," Seyran Halachyan, 58, told AFP at the foot of the hilltop memorial, the country's most visited landmark.
Ashot Minasyan, 72, said he was grateful to Sarkisian for not crushing peaceful protests and "leaving without bloodshed".
Acting government head Karapetyan thanked all political forces for heeding his call for unity.
"We are going through a difficult new phase in our history," he said in a statement.
"Today we show the world that despite difficulties and unresolved domestic issues we are together and united. This is our duty to the genocide's innocent victims."
Earlier in the day he also held official commemorations at the hilltop Tsitsernakaberd memorial, with thousands laying flowers at the monument.
Protest leader Pashinyan said that on Tuesday he would conduct "political consultations" to discuss a number of concrete steps so that a people's victory "could be legally guaranteed".
He has said that parliament would have to elect a new prime minister within a week and that snap parliamentary elections were also on the cards.
Many said they felt mixed emotions because the impoverished country's future was uncertain.
"I've been thinking from the start of the day that everything is just beginning," said Asya Bagdasaryan, 43.
"What awaits us in the future? Will there be new shocks?"
Armenia -- which depends on investment and aid from Russia -- over the past few years has been hit hard by economic troubles in the former Soviet master.
Unemployment in Armenia stood at 18 percent last year. The opposition says some 290,000 people have left the country since Sarkisian came to power in 2008.
Political turmoil enveloped the impoverished country of 2.9 million people after Sarkisian was last week elected prime minister by lawmakers after serving two successive presidential terms.
The opposition charged that the 63-year-old wanted to extend his grip on power under a new parliamentary system of government, saying he failed to tackle poverty and corruption.
Protests broke out several days before his expected election, with tens of thousands of people eventually taking to the streets of Yerevan and other cities in largely peaceful protests.
Sarkisian initially refused to resign but quit on the 11th day of demonstrations after a number of serving servicemen joined the marches.
His resignation came as a shock, with analysts saying just last week that the opposition did not have enough resources to force the veteran leader to quit.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed hope that the country's new leader would suit "all forces representing the Armenian people".
A spokesman for Azerbajan's foreign ministry expressed the hope that new Armenian authorities would adopt a "constructive" approach over the breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh.
Armenia unites to mark Ottoman massacres after leader quits
Armenia unites to mark Ottoman massacres after leader quits
- Protest leader said that he would conduct "political consultations" to discuss a number of concrete steps.
- Unemployment in Armenia stood at 18 percent last year.
Nigeria tanker truck blast toll rises to 86: rescuers
LAGOS: The death toll from the explosion of a petrol tanker truck in Nigeria that killed people rushing to gather fuel has risen to 86, emergency services said Sunday.
"The final death toll from the tanker explosion is 86," said Ibrahim Audu Husseini, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency in Niger state.
The truck carrying 60,000 litres of gasoline exploded after flipping over on a road in the centre of the country on Saturday, authorities said.
Pope Francis calls for Gaza ceasefire to be ‘immediately respected’
- Pope Francis: I also hope that humanitarian aid will even more quickly reach... the people of Gaza, who have so many urgent needs
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis called Sunday for a ceasefire in Gaza to be “immediately respected,” as he thanked mediators and urged a boost in humanitarian aid as well as the return of hostages.
“I express gratitude to all the mediators,” the Argentine pontiff said shortly after the start of a truce between Israel and Hamas began.
“Thanks to all the parties involved in this important outcome. I hope that, as agreed, it will be immediately respected by the parties and that all the hostages will finally be able to go home to hug their loved ones again,” he said.
“I pray so much for them, and their families. I also hope that humanitarian aid will even more quickly reach... the people of Gaza, who have so many urgent needs,” Francis said.
“Both Israelis and Palestinians need clear signs of hope. I hope that the political authorities of both, with the help of the international community, can reach the right two-state solution.
“May everyone say yes to dialogue, yes to reconciliation, yes to peace,” he added.
A total of 33 hostages taken by militants during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel are scheduled to be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce.
Under the deal, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are to be released from Israeli jails.
The truce is intended to pave the way for an end to more than 15 months of war sparked by Hamas’s attack, the deadliest in Israeli history.
It follows a deal struck by mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt after months of negotiations, and takes effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.
Bangladesh seeks arrest of MP cricketer over bounced cheques
- Bangladesh court issues warrant for Shakib Al Hasan for bounced cheques totaling $300,000
- Hasan is a former lawmaker from the party of autocratic, ousted ex-leader Sheikh Hasina
Dhaka: A Bangladeshi court issued an arrest warrant on Sunday for cricket star Shakib Al Hasan for bounced cheques totalling more than $300,000, in the latest blow for the ousted lawmaker.
“The court has previously summoned Shakib but he did not appear at the court,” said Mohammed Shahibur Rahman from the IFIC Bank, which filed the case.
“Now, the court has issued the warrant,” he said.
Shakib is a former lawmaker from the party of autocratic ex-leader Sheikh Hasina, who was overthrown by revolution and fled by helicopter to India in August 2024.
His links to Hasina made him a target of public anger and he was among dozens facing murder investigations for a deadly police crackdown on protesters during the uprising.
He has not been charged over those allegations.
Shakib was playing in a domestic Twenty20 cricket competition in Canada when Hasina’s government collapsed and has not returned to Bangladesh since.
The left-arm allrounder has played 71 Tests, 247 one-day internationals and 129 Twenty20s for Bangladesh, taking a combined 712 wickets.
However, he was left out of the 15-man squad for the one-day international tournament in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan and Dubai next month.
Najmul Hossain Shanto will captain the side, with Bangladesh placed in Group A alongside India, Pakistan and New Zealand.
UK family visa applicants from war-torn countries caught in bureaucratic limbo
- Home Office granting just a handful of waivers to people in countries where biometric information cannot be collected
- Those seeking refuge from Gaza, Sudan and Afghanistan among those awaiting authorization
LONDON: Refugees trying to escape Gaza, Sudan and Afghanistan and join family members in the UK are in limbo between government bureaucracy and a lack of biometric processing facilities.
As part of the family reunification visa application process, applicants must submit biometric information, usually including a fingerprint, at centers in the countries from which they apply.
But such centers often either do not exist in war-torn areas or the facilities are not available to gather the information. This means applicants must either complete the biometric processing once in the UK or be excused from the biometric process entirely.
Figures published by The Guardian on Saturday, however, show that just a handful of these deferrals or exemptions have been granted by the UK.
As of May 2024, 114 people had requested to have their applications “pre-determined” by delaying the submission of biometric data until reaching the UK. Another 84 people had requested to be excused from providing biometric information altogether. By February 2024, just eight predetermination cases and one excusal had been authorized.
The highest number of the requests came from Palestinians and those in Afghanistan and Sudan, where visa application centers have been forced to close due to conflict.
Members of parliament and charities have accused the Home Office of blocking people such in areas from joining their families in the UK.
They compared it to the situation in Ukraine, where people can apply for family reunification visas in the UK without submitting biometrics beforehand.
“The UK rightly welcomed Ukrainian refugees fleeing war. Why can’t the same compassion be shown to people from Gaza and elsewhere?” a coalition of independent MPs, including former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, told The Guardian.
Nick Beales, head of campaigns at the charity RAMFEL, which helps vulnerable migrants access justice, said: “This disclosure proves that it was actually impossible for people in conflict zones, such as Sudan and Gaza, to apply for visas even when they had clear family ties in the UK.”
A Home Office spokesperson told The Guardian they understood applicants may face challenging circumstances to reach a visa application center to submit biometrics, saying: “That is why individuals have the option to submit a biometric deferral request, which is assessed on its own merits, and exceptional circumstances are considered.”
Taliban deputy tells leader there is no excuse for education bans on Afghan women and girls
- The Taliban government has barred Afghan females from education after sixth grade
- There are reports authorities had also stopped medical training and courses for women
A senior Taliban figure has urged the group’s leader to scrap education bans on Afghan women and girls, saying there is no excuse for them, in a rare public rebuke of government policy.
Sher Abbas Stanikzai, political deputy at the Foreign Ministry, made the remarks in a speech on Saturday in southeastern Khost province.
He told an audience at a religious school ceremony there was no reason to deny education to women and girls, “just as there was no justification for it in the past and there shouldn’t be one at all.”
The government has barred females from education after sixth grade. Last September, there were reports authorities had also stopped medical training and courses for women.
In Afghanistan, women and girls can only be treated by female doctors and health professionals. Authorities have yet to confirm the medical training ban.
“We call on the leadership again to open the doors of education,” said Stanikzai in a video shared by his official account on the social platform X. “We are committing an injustice against 20 million people out of a population of 40 million, depriving them of all their rights. This is not in Islamic law, but our personal choice or nature.”
Stanikzai was once the head of the Taliban team in talks that led to the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
It is not the first time he has said that women and girls deserve to have an education. He made similar remarks in September 2022, a year after schools closed for girls and months and before the introduction of a university ban.
But the latest comments marked his first call for a change in policy and a direct appeal to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Ibraheem Bahiss, an analyst with Crisis Group’s South Asia program, said Stanikzai had periodically made statements calling girls’ education a right of all Afghan women.
“However, this latest statement seems to go further in the sense that he is publicly calling for a change in policy and questioned the legitimacy of the current approach,” Bahiss said.
In the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, earlier this month, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders to challenge the Taliban on women and girls’ education.
She was speaking at a conference hosted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Muslim World League.
The UN has said that recognition is almost impossible while bans on female education and employment remain in place and women can’t go out in public without a male guardian.
No country recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, but countries like Russia have been building ties with them.
