Month: April 2016

Armenian lawmaker offers Russian colleagues to visit Nagorno Karabakh to assess the situation on the ground.

Kopryun Nahapetyan, Head of the National Assembly’s Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs, made the proposal at the Committee’s joint sitting with the Russian Federal Council’s Committee on Defense and Security.

“Dear colleagues, I offer to organize a visit to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic so that you see the consequences of the war and listen to the shots. The criminal actions of the Azerbaijani authorities against the people of Karabakh do not differ from those of the Islamic State,” Nahapetyan said.

Real Madrid have been paired with Manchester City in the Champions League semi-finals, while Bayern Munich will have to deal with Atletico Madrid if they are to make it to the final, Goal.com reports.

Friday’s draw in Nyon means City manager Manuel Pellegrini will take on his former team, having coached Madrid in 2009-10.

Madrid – who saw off Wolfsburg in the last round – made it to the final four in 2014-15, but Juventus eventually proved to too strong. They last won the competition in 2013-14, beating Atletico 4-1 after extra time for their 10th European Cup win.

Manchester City, meanwhile, are the rookies in the semi-finals, having never made it to this stage before. They failed to make it past the round of 16 in 2013-14 and 2014-15, but got the better of Dynamo Kyiv and Paris Saint-Germain to set up a clash with the Spanish giants.

Madrid and City have met twice before, with Los Blancos winning once and drawing the remaining game when they were paired in the group stages of the competition in 2012-13.

The tie between Bayern and Atletico will see Pep Guardiola return to his native country, having enjoyed so much success at Barcelona before his move to the Bundesliga champions.

 

 

 

“The recent developments showed that the sooner Artsakh gets involved in the negotiations, the more effectively the ntalks will proceed,” Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told reporters following the government sitting today.

Speaking about the Kazan document, the Deputy Foreign Minister said “it’s almost the same as the Madrid Principles with some positive changes for the Armenian side.”

As CSTO’s reaction to the four-day war in Artsakh, Kocharyan said “the CSTO Secretariat and Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha responded to the development, and added that “Armenia has not applied for advice from the CSTO Council and therefore has no expectations from it.” “Armenia should rely upon itself, at the same time attaching importance to relations with any country, particularly the allies,” Kocharyan said.

The Deputy Foreign Minister noted that being part of an organization does not yet mean enjoying full support. “Neither the international law, nor the international organizations are ideal,” he said.

Had the international law been ideal, there would not be a Karabakh issue, as self-determination is a core principles of it prominently embodied in Article I of the Charter of the United Nations.

Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist from Azerbaijan, has been chosen to receive the 2016 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, according to .

An independent international jury of media professionals recommended Ms Ismayilova in recognition of her outstanding contribution to press freedom in difficult circumstances.

“Khadija Ismayilova highly deserves the Prize and I am happy to see that her courage and professionalism are recognized,” said Ljiljana Zurovac, President of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2016 Jury.

Ms Ismayilova, a freelance journalist and contributor to the Azerbaijani service of Radio Free Europe, was detained in December 2014, and, in September 2015, was sentenced to seven and a half years’ imprisonment on charges relating to abuse of power and tax evasion.

The Prize will be awarded during the celebration of World Press Freedom Day, 3 May, hosted by Finland this year.

Created by UNESCO’s Executive Board in 1997, the annual UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize honours a person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and, or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, and especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.

The $25,000 Prize is named in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper, El Espectador, in Bogotá, on 17 December 1986. It is funded by the Cano Foundation (Colombia) and the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation (Finland).

President of the Republic of Armenia, Chairman of the CSTO Collective Security Council Serzh Sargsyan received today CSTO secretary general Nikolay Bordyuzha, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, and the heads of delegation of the general staffs of the CSTO member states – Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, who have arrived in Armenia to participate in the eights sitting of the CSTO Military Committee.

The guests briefed President Sargsyan on the issues on the agenda of the Military Committee sitting and their role in the reinforcement of the CSTO military component. The interlocutors exchanged views on the steps towards raising the level of efficiency of the CSTO activity. Reference was made to issues related to ensuring security and stability in the Caucasus region, namely the situation created as a result of the military actions unleashed by Azerbaijan along the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact.

Later on President Serzh Sargsyan and CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyzha met face-to-face. Issues related to the Armenian presidency of the CSTO were discussed.

Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley will preside at a 4:00 p.m. prayer service for the first ever Archdiocese of Boston commemoration of the Armenian Genocide at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 23, the  reports.

Among those present will be Archbishop Khajag Barsamian of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan from the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and vicar general Msgr. Andon Atamian, who will be representing Bishop Mikael Mouradian, of the Armenian Catholic Eparchy of the United States and Canada.

Nationally-acclaimed performers of the Armenian national instrument, the Duduk, will open the service, and a combined Armenian guest choir under Maestro Artur Veranian will sing, organizers said.

“With Cardinal Seán’s vision and support, the archdiocese is pleased to offer this occasion of joint prayer in remembrance, witness, and in Christ’s promise of resurrection with our Armenian brothers and sisters,” said Bishop Arthur L. Kennedy, director for the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

Last year, Pope Francis made headlines when he referred to the 1915 mass killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks as “genocide.” Turkey denies the slaughter was a genocide, although a number of countries have officially recognized it as such.

The Vatican confirmed this month that Pope Francis will visit Armenia in June following invitations from Catholicos Karekin II, the Catholicos of All Armenians, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

“Pope Francis put the moral weight of the papacy behind this cause of human dignity — the least we owe those who have suffered a genocide is the recognition that it happened, especially when they are our brothers and sisters in Christ and the first nation to accept Christianity in 301 AD,” said Vito Nicastro, associate director for the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

Nicastro said the Boston commemoration service will make the pope’s message present on a local level.

“The service is not only of remembrance but also of resurrection. By standing with (the Armenian people), we share in the defeat of evil — ultimately it is an expression of the Easter mystery,” said Nicastro.

Turkey should stop shooting at Syrian civilians fleeing fighting and immediately allow them to cross the Turkish border to seek protection, said today.

Renewed fighting between the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and armed opposition groups in Northern Aleppo has displaced at least 30,000 people in the past 48 hours, with Turkish border guards shooting at some of them as they approach Turkey’s new border wall.

Turkey’s border remains firmly shut, a year after the authorities started rejecting all but the most seriously injured Syrians. Turkeyhas previously indicated it wants to create a “safe zone” in Syria to which Syrians could ostensibly flee and Turkey could return Syrian refugees. In its March 8, 2016 deal with Turkey, the European Union said it would work with Turkey to “allow for the local population and refugees to live in areas which will be more safe.”

“As civilians flee ISIS fighters, Turkey is responding with live ammunition instead of compassion,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The whole world is talking about fighting ISIS, and yet those most at risk of becoming victims of its horrific abuses are trapped on the wrong side of a concrete wall.”

According to international aid workers in Turkey and heads of six of the 10 displaced persons camps east of Azaz near the Turkish border, ISIS advances on April 13 and 14 have forced out at least half the camps’ 60,000 residents. They have fled to other camps, to the Bab al-Salameh camp on the Turkish border and to the nearby town of Azaz. Three of the camps – Ikdah, Harameen and al-Sham – are now completely empty of the 24,000 people previously sheltering there.

On April 14, Human Rights Watch spoke with the representatives of six of the 10 camps and seven displaced Syrians who had been living in camps that had been taken over by ISIS or that were close to the fast-changing ISIS front line. All of the residents said they wanted to flee to Turkey but that the closed border meant they had nowhere to escape to. Some said they had stayed in the camps under ISIS-threat because they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to find shelter elsewhere, knowing other camps along the Turkish border were completely full. Others said they had returned to their nearby home villages even though they were still unsafe.

The head of Ikdah camp, on the Turkish border, said that ISIS had taken over the camp, which sheltered just under 10,000 people, early on April 14, fired shots in the air, and told residents to leave.

 

 

 

Armenian delegates to the Parlaimentary Assmebly of the Council of Europe will have a serious work to do next week, when PACE spring session kicks off on April 18. Three requests for current affairs debate on Nagorno Karabakh have been submitted by French, Azerbaijani and Armenians delegates. The Bureau will decide which of the three requests will be considered. The Armenian delegates are resolute to bring the truth about the four-day war to the attention of the Parliamentary Assembly.

The first request titled “The recent and tragic escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict” was submitted by French MP Francois Rochebloine, Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Hermine Naghdalyan told Public Radio of Armenia.

Immediately after that the Azerbaijani delegation submitted a request for a debate on “The tragic escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan.” This was followed by a proposal of the Armenian side to discuss the “War crimes committed by Azerbaijan during the recent aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh.”

“These are proposals to discuss the same topic under three different titles. Obviously, the choice of the title will affect the debate.  The struggle of the proposals is going to be very interesting. Some proposals are being brought to the agenda in order to harm the other ones, to foil their consideration at PACE,” Hermine Naghdalyan said.

Therefore, it’s clear that the Parliamentary Assembly will hold a current affairs debate on Nagorno Karabakh, but it’s not yet clear which of the proposals will be preferred. After one of the three requests is chosen by the Bureau, the issue will be discussed at the plenary sitting.  The author will have ten minutes to present the issue and his/her approaches, which will be followed by 90-minute debates. After the debates the Bureau is authorized to decide whether the topic will be summed up by one discussion or will be considered further with a view of developing a report.

The Tbilisi University after Ivane Javakhishvili will host a discussion on “The Karabakh Conflict and Journalism” today.

The event will feature lecturers of the University, representatives of popular TV Companies Rustavi 2 and Imedi-1.

Photo: AFP

 

Italian researchers say they have identified 35 living people who are related to Leonardo da Vinci, using genealogical records, the BBC reports.

They include the acclaimed film director Franco Zeffirelli.

The Renaissance polymath was born in the Tuscan town of Vinci in 1452.

He never married and left no direct descendants, so historians Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato sought to find those who are descended from his siblings.

Leonardo’s remains were lost in the turmoil of the 16th Century, so DNA research was not used in their work to construct a family tree, which began in 1973.

Most of those identified are still living in Tuscany, reports say.

But, as La Stampa reports (in Italian), a connection to Leonardo da Vinci may not come as a surprise to Franco Zeffirelli. The director made reference to a family connection when he was presented with a Leonardo Prize by the Italian president in 2007, the newspaper says.