On December 8, 2020, a special event of the Aurora Humanitarian initiative dedicated to the cancellation of the international postage stamp featuring 2019 Aurora Prize Laureate Mirza Dinnayi took place in Yerevan, Armenia. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, Aurora’s activities have mainly gone online in 2020, and this was its first live event of the year. 2019 Aurora Prize Laureate Mirza Dinnayi, Co-Founder and Director of Luftbrücke Irak (Air Bridge Iraq), has earlier arrived in Armenia to participate in this event and a series of meetings.
“Everybody in this world was affected by coronavirus pandemic but, of course, Armenia and Artsakh were affected twice. On top of the pandemic, there was a devastating war. The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative is following the principle of Gratitude in Action, and we strongly believe in second chances. Aurora has supported numerous projects around the world, and now it was the time for Aurora to bring this Gratitude in Action to Armenia and Artsakh,” said Nicola Stanisch, Executive Director of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.
During his visit to Armenia, Mirza Dinnayi has been to Erebuni Medical Center and Heratsi Hospital Complex and has met with the people wounded during the war against Nagorno-Кarabakh. He will also travel to Artsakh as part of Aurora's international program of inviting world humanitarian leaders to the region.
“I’d like to express my solidarity to the Armenian people. Now the situation is very hard, you go through not only COVID-19, but also war and post-war difficulties. I understand the loneliness that you can feel. But believe me, most of the world is by your side. Politicians care about power, money, and oil, but ordinary people like us don’t care about this kind of stuff. We do care about human values; we do care about human rights and peace, and we are with you,” noted 2019 Aurora Laureate Mirza Dinnayi.
“This postage stamp is not only a big honor for Mr. Dinnayi, but also for Armenia. We hope that during his visit to Artsakh Mr. Dinnayi will be able to have a closer look at the situation there to start collaboration and a humanitarian mission in Artsakh,” said Stepan Tsaturyan, Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry of Armenia.
The new stamp was released by the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative in cooperation with Haypost, the National Postal Operator of Armenia, and the Ministry of High-Tech Industry of Armenia. The post stamp depicting Mirza Dinnayi with a nominal value of 350 AMD comes with a donation coupon for 150 AMD, which HayPost will transfer to the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative to support its humanitarian projects across the globe.
“By continuing this tradition of featuring Aurora Prize Laureates [on our stamps], HayPost shows its commitment to support this global humanitarian movement, as well as to share the Armenian culture and history with the world,” stated Hayk Karapetyan, Chief Executive Officer of HayPost.
“Now we go through hard times as the pandemic was followed by the outbreak of war. Our national dignity is insulted. But I’m sure that in the foreseeable future we will present ourselves to the world as a first-class nation,” said Hovik Musayelyan, Chairman of the Armenian Union of Philatelists.
Like the previous three Aurora postage stamps, this new one was also created by designer Alla Mingalyova, Art Director of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.
