Month: April 2016

Armenia’s Chief Compulsory Enforcement Officer Mihran Poghosyan has resigned. The Compulsory Enforcement Service has issued the following statement:

“My name has recently surfaced in the publications on Panama offshores.

I regret that my name appeared along with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s family, which has really appropriated millions of dollars.

I find it unacceptable that I might serve a reason for any civilizational parallels between my country and authoritarian Azerbaijan. That’s why I have filed my resignation today.

I’ll publicly respond to the publications of the Panama Papers without any state levers at my disposal.”

The first hearing of the two Dink cases that are joined will be held tomorrow. At the hearing that will be held between April 19 and 21, 34 suspects, 8 of them being arrested, will stand trial together for the first time, reports.

Hrant Dink case will be tried in 14^th High Penal Court. The main case, which was joined with the indictment against the public officials who are claimed to be responsible for the assassination, will last for 3 days.

The court reached the conclusion that the cases should be tried together, because of the relation between the two cases and the nature of the alleged crime.

There are 26 suspects in the indictment which claims that some public officials are responsible for the murder. Suspects Ali Fuat Yılmazer, Ramazan Akyürek, Ercan Demir, Muhittin Zenit and Özkan Mumcu are jailed pending trial.

In the main case, Ogün Samast, Yasin Hayal and Ersin Yolcu are arrested.

Suspect Ahmet İskender, who has a warrant that is issued against him, is still a fugitive.

One of the suspects in Agos’ former editor-in-chief Hrant Dink’s murder case, Engin Dinç, the current chief of Security General Directorate Intelligence Branch, won’t be present at the hearing on April 19. Dinç’s excuse for his absence is the escalated terrorist attacks in Turkey. In the petition that was presented to the court by Dinç’s lawyers, it is stated that the struggle against terrorism is currently intense and thus, for Dinç, it would be hard to be present at the hearing.

A cross-stone dedicated to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims was unveiled in the German city of Jena on April 17. The monument was blessed by Archbishop Karekin Bekdjian, Primate of the German Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Armenia’s Ambassador to Germany Ashot Smbatyan, Member of Bundestag, Chairman of the German-Armenian Forum Albert Weiler and Jena Mayor Albrecht Schröter offered opening remarks. The speakers noted that recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey is the milestone for reconciliation.

The event was attended by members of Bundestag and the Landtag of Thuringia, employees of the Jena City Hall, representatives of the local Armenian community.

Many people are feared to have drowned after a boat carrying up to 400 mainly Somali migrants capsized in the Mediterranean off the coast of Egypt the BBC reports.

A senior Somali diplomat in Egypt confirmed the reports, after social media posts from some of the migrants’ families were shared widely on Sunday.

Some of the survivors have reportedly been taken to one of the Greek islands.

The UN says 180,000 people have attempted to reach Europe by sea this year, with nearly 800 lives lost.

Addressing the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Hermine Naghdalyan referred to the worrying signs of ISIS expanding to other regions, namely the South Caucasus.

Speaking about the Turkey-EU deal on migrants, Naghdalyan stressed that “reached under almost open blackmail of Turkey, this agreement is being heavily criticized for various reasons.”

“The country receives billions of dollars to manage migration flows, which are generated, in part, by the acts of the Islamic State. On the other hand, according to media reports, there are claims that Turkey is financially supporting the Islamic State by purchasing oil from the terrorist group at low prices,” the Armenian lawmaker said.

She quoted the Daily Mail as saying in August 2014 that many foreigners joined the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, travelling through Turkey and that the country is the hub of the terrorist organization.

“Today the Islamic State is declining in Syria. This is encouraging. However, there are worrying signs that ISIS would aim to destabilize other region, including the South Caucasus,” Hermine Naghdalyan said.

“On April 2 Azerbaijan unleashed a large-scale aggression against Nagorno Karabakh. Many media outlets have reported about the participation of ISIS fighters in the ranks of Azerbaijani armed forces. Maybe this could explain the barbaric acts of violence committed by Azeri forces during four days of war. The list of war crimes includes bombardment of civilian objects, schools with use of heavy rocket launchers, killing and mutilating civilians – children and elderly people, committing ISIS-style beheading of already dead soldiers and showing the heads to cheering public,” she added.

“The bloodshed in Nagorno Karabakh was stopped due to the courage of the people of Nagorno Karabakh. However, credible fears remain on the possible expansion of ISIS to new regions that will definitely lead to new wars and tragedies,” the Armenian MP stressed.

“I add my voice to those calling to combine efforts in fighting terrorism in all its form, to take further measures, deal with radicalization and hate speech and make it clear that war is not an option, tolerance is the attribute of the strong,” Naghdalyan concluded.

Member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Naira Zohrabyan has accused PACE of supporting Azeri aggression.

According to her, by voting in favor of a resolution on Sarsang water reservoir, the Parliamentary Assembly actually gave Azerbaijan a carte blanche for unleashing large-scale military actions all along the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

“On the night of April 2 Azerbaijan unleashed large-scale military actions, using tanks, rocket launchers, and air forces. The Armenian military positions and civilians were targeted,” Naira Zohrabyan said.  She reminded that a child was killed on his way to school, combatants were tortured and beheaded.

“Aliyev’s mercenaries committed war crimes and bombed civilian establishments, while the President of our Assembly encouraged the Azeri military criminals,” Zohrabyan said.

“The current President of the Parliamentary Assembly is the representative of Azerbaijan. He’s the spokesperson of Ilham Aliyev. When making his first visit to Azerbaijan after being elected, he confirmed his loyalty to Aliyev’s tyranny. At the difficult moment of military actions, Pedro Agramunt made a statement that openly encouraged the homicidal regime of Aliyev,” she added.

“The Council of Europe is an organization with 47 member states that should represent and defend the interests of all European citizens. The President of such an organization should be impartial and equitable and not someone who openly defends tyranny in criminal Azerbaijan,” the Armenian lawmaker concluded.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received today Ambassador Gunter Bechler, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office  for the South Caucasus.

Minister Nalbandian briefed the Special Representative of the OSCE German Presidency on the situation established as a result of the recent large-scale military actions unleashed by Azerbaijan –and the ongoing ceasefire violations.

Ambassador Bechler noted that the OSCE German Presidency is strongly concerned by the escalation of situation along the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan and expressed condolences over the human losses as a result of the military actions.

During the meeting the parties exchanged views on the perspectives of the negotiation process under way within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship. Edward Nalbandian presented Armenia’s position on the settlement of the conflict.

The interlocutors stressed the importance of unequivocal support to the efforts of the co-chairing countries targeted at the exceptionally peaceful resolution of the issue.

Minister Nalbandian said “Azerbaijan keeps manipulating the negotiation process, while the proposals of the co-chairing countries are well-known and clearly formulated.” He added that “the realization of the right of the Artsakh people to self-determination is the cornerstone, and Armenia has declared on many occasions that it is ready to continue the negotiations on that basis.”

“Azerbaijan unleashed a large-scale military aggression against the people of Nagorno Karabakh, violating the international humanitarian law and committing war crimes,” member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Samvel Farmanyan said at PACE plenary session in Strasbourg. The full speech is provided below:

“Almost two months have passed since the last part-session of the Assembly. And we discuss here what has been done in this period of time. Evidently our values have been brutally and cynically attacked, first in the very heart of Europe – bloody terror attacks in Brussels, and then on the southeastern shore of our continent – in Nagorno-Karabakh where Azerbaijan unleashed a large-scale military aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh violating international humanitarian law and committing war crimes. Let me join the words of sympathy addressed to the families of all victims. I also join the voices of those hundreds of thousands of people who marched yesterday in Brussels and in different capitals of Europe and the globe since the bloody escalation of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh calling for peace.

The progress report refers to one of the notorious discussions we had here in January. Let me recall, Chairman, that the voices against the controversial reports by Robert Walter and Milica Markovic in this very hemi-cycle were based on the tangible assumption that any attempt to approve groundless and one-sided resolutions or any selective application to the principles of international law will only damage the peace process and serve as smokescreen for the Azerbaijani autocratic leadership to resume large scale military actions undermining the peace process and threatening fragile stability in the entire region of South Caucasus. While raising concerns we had in mind such development of the events that happened afterwards and unfortunately, our concerns became to be a kind of bad prediction that cost hundreds of innocent lives from all sides of the conflict.

While considering this progress report, colleagues, we can’t jump over the efforts the permanent bodies of the Assembly have taken or rather mistaken regarding this tragedy. A repeatedly clear message was delivered to Azerbaijani leadership since the very birth of escalation that there is no alternative to the peaceful settlement of the conflict and that war is not an option. Presidents of France, United States, Russia, heads of dozens of other countries and hundreds of foreign ministries, Secretary Generals of the UN, OSCE, CoE, high-level officials of EU, dozens of other international organizations joint their voice and reputation to deliver that unequivocal and uncompromising message to President Aliev to stop military aggression.

While increasingly strong and univocal message of the international community to Aliev was a window of hope for peace to avoid further escalation of the situation, irresponsible rhetoric of Mr. Agramunt, came to contradict our Assembly to the international community this time not by ignorance of excessive human rights violations in Azerbaijan but by his exceptionally dangerous wording clearly siding himself with Azerbaijan in that particularly fragile situation. Unfortunately, Mr. Agramunt’s statement came to once again confirm his impartiality as President of the Assembly and empowers media reports about his alleged engagement in Azerbaijani lobbying structures seriously damaging Assembly’s image in the eyes of millions of Europeans and all members of our House of Democracy.

President Serzh Sargsyan has left for the Nagorno Karabakh Republic for a working visit, President’s Press Office reports.

At Stepanakert Airport Serzh Sargsyan was welcomed by NKR President Bako Sahakyan, the Defense Ministers of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, other officials.

The Armenian community of Georgia has issued an appeal to the country’s President and Prime Minister, calling for recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Reminding that April 24, 2016 will mark the 101st anniversary of the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, the community notes that the fact of the genocide has been recognized and condemned by more than 20 countries, including Canada, Italy, France, Sweden, Argentina, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Russia, Poland, Vatican and others)

“The fact has also been acknowledged by 47 of the 50 US states, as well as by a number of international organizations, such as the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the European People’s Party, etc,” the statement reads.

For the sake of justice and democratic values, representatives of the Armenian organizations of Georgia call on the authorities to join the civilized community of the world, to respect the will of the people of the Republic of Georgia and initiate the discussion of the issue of Armenian Genocide recognition in the Georgian Parliament.