August 16, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 16.08.2014, 12:15
The Romanian Patriarchate and the Bucharest Archbishopric are organizing Saturday and Sunday religious and cultural events to mark 300 years since the death as martyrs of the Romanian ruler Constantin Brancoveanu and his four sons. On Saturday the Saint George the New Church in Bucharest, the last place of worship the ruler of Wallachia, Constantin Brancoveanu, had commissioned, was consecrated once again. This is the place where Constantin Brancoveanu was secretly interred after being killed in Constantinople in 1714. In May 2014 the relics of the ruler were exhumed and placed into a shrine for Christians to be able to pay their respects. The year 2014 was declared the “Brancoveanu Year” and commemorative events are held all across Romania.
The French President, Francois Hollande, on Saturday reiterated that Russia had to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and called on Kiev to show reticence and discernment in the ongoing military operations in the east of the country against the pro-Russian separatists. Also the German chancellor Angela Merkel asked the Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the phone, to stop the flow of military equipment, military advisors and armed personnel crossing the border with Ukraine. On Friday Kiev officials announced they had partially destroyed a convoy of Russian armored vehicles that had entered the Ukrainian territory, an incursion that Moscow denied categorically.
The Romanian President, Traian Basescu, on Friday talked over the phone with the American vice president Joe Biden. The topics included, among others, the situation in Ukraine. According to the White House, the two officials expressed concern for the possibility of Russia trying to intervene in Ukraine under the cover of providing humanitarian aid, which is considered an infringement of international legislation as well as of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The agenda of talks also included the stage of bilateral relations and the NATO summit to be held in September in Great Britain.
Tens of civilians were massacred in a village in the north of Iraq by the Islamic State’s jihadists, who toughened their campaign against the Yazidi minority in the area. Since the start of their offensive, on June 9th, the jihadists have taken control of large areas north, west and east of Baghdad. This month they started to advance towards the autonomous region of Kurdistan (in the north), the summary executions, rapes and persecutions forcing tens of thousand of people to take refuge in a mountainous region. On Friday the UN Security Council passed a resolution regarding the cessation of recruitments and funding of the jihadists from Iraq and neighboring Syria. The EU also decided that the EU member states are free to deliver weapons to the Iraqi Kurds who are battling the jihadists if they have the agreement of the Iraqi national authorities.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry hails the anniversary of 95 years of diplomatic relations between Romania and Canada. On August 16th 1919 Romania’s General Consulate was opened in Montreal. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Canada is an important ally of Romania within NATO and also a close partner within international organizations. A genuine bridge between the two states, the Romanian community in Canada numbers almost 200 thousand people, including teachers, researchers and PhD candidates who have a significant role in consolidating bilateral relations in several domains of interest.
