Month: April 2016

The Armenian community of Argentina massively demonstrated outside the Embassy of Azerbaijan in the country to denounce the Azeri aggression against the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh on the night of Tuesday, April 5, reports.

After an intense awareness campaign in the Argentine society, all institutions of the community called for peace and recognition of self-determination of the people of Artsakh. The rally was attended by several community representatives and Archbishop Kissag Mouradian, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church for Argentina and Chile.

“Azerbaijan has embarked in recent years in the process of expanding its military arsenal and the externalization of their convictions to achieve their goals through weapons. The continued aggressive attitude of Azerbaijan against the civilian population of the Nagorno-Karabakh confirms that a peaceful resolution of the conflict will only be possible respecting the right of self-determination of its people,” reads the statement signed by all community organizations.

“The Armenian community of Argentina expresses its solidarity with the authorities of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, supports its self-defense forces and reaffirms its commitment to the struggle begun by its people in 1988 that culminated in the declaration of independence in 1991.”

“Given the serious situation in question, we ask the authorities of Argentina to urge the parties to circumscribe the conflict settlement within the framework of the negotiations held in the Minsk Group, and thus avoiding a regional explosion with unpredictable consequences,” ends the statement.

“The recognition of Artsakh’s independence by Armenia is not in process, but the agreement on mutual military assistance is being developed,” Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told reports today.

He said Armenia’s number one objective is to reach Nagorno Karabakh’s return to the negotiating table as a party to talks.

“The recent developments showed that there is no alternative to Karabakh’s involvement in the talks. It’s important for preventing such provocations in the future and for achieving progress in the negotiation process,” he said.

Referring to the visit of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Shavarsh Kocharyan clarified that they’re coming to study the situation connected with the recent events.

“The utmost objective of the Armenian side and the international community is to prevent the reoccurrence of the developments of the past days, to ensure the maintenance of the ceasefire, which will, in turn, allow to return to talks,” Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

He added that the Madrid Principles are the only basis for negotiations.

Two Spanish cities – Puente Genil and La Roda de Andalucía – have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Corresponding resolutions have been unanimously adopted by the City Councils of the two countries.

The bills condemn the Turkish policy of denial and urge other Spanish cities and the authorities of Spain to follow their example and address a call to Turkey.

The Mayors of both countries have noted the preventive nature of the resolutions, stressing that the crime has no statute of limitations and emphasizing the importance of its condemnation.

Russian President Sergey Lavrov is planning to visit Armenia April 21-22, Spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.

It was earlier reported that Lavrov would visit Baku on April 6 to participate in a trilateral meeting with his Iranian and Azerbaijani counterparts.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

“The agenda of Armenian-German relations is too broad. it includes multifaceted bilateral relations, Armenia-EU, Armenia-NATO cooperation and participation in peacekeeping missions,” President Serzh Sargsyan said at a joint press conference with Merkel.

“I briefed Chancellor Merkel on the developments of the past few days. Armenia highly appreciates the support of the OSCE German Presidency to the negotiations on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group,” he said.

“Back in January, Germany expressed its support to the proposal to implement a mechanism of investigation of border incidents. Armenia backs the implementation of this mechanism, as well as the withdrawal of snipers from the line of contact,” President Sargsyan said. He added, however, that Azerbaijan has always denied any confidence-building measures and pursued different objectives.

“The objectives were finally revealed the night of April 2. Ignoring the calls of the international community for peace, Azerbaijan started large-scale military actions all along the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact in what was the worst clash ever since the 1994 ceasefire agreement. As a result Azerbaijan turned the region into a hot spot threating the security of Europe,” President Sargsyan said.

“The people of Karabakh do not want war. What they want is one simple thing – the right to determine their future, they want to live in a democratic country,” Serzh Sargsyan added.

“The people of Karabakh do not want war. What they want is one simple thing – the right to determine their future, they want to live in a democratic country, and expect the international community to recognize this right,” Serzh Sargsyan added.

President Sargsyan expressed gratitude to Germany and personally Angela Merkel for their consistent support to the development of Armenia-EU relations.

“Azerbaijan may have more modern weapons, but the power is not measured by the modernity of weapons, by the quantity of tanks, the power is in the faith among the people of Karabakh and Armenia that they will defend their Motherland at any cost,” President Sargsyan said.

Angela Merkel said, in turn, that “as a country presiding over the OSCE, Germany is ready to help the OSCE Minsk Group solve the issue, to play a constructive role. She also stressed the important of returning to the negotiation table as soon as possible.

Armenia plans to complete the renovation of the strategic Vardenis-Martakert highway linking Armenia to Nagornmo Karabakh.

The Government will allocate 1 billion AMD from its reserve funds for this purpose.

“The road is of strategic importance, it’s the highway connecting to Karvachar, and we have decided to complete its renovation this year. It’s the President’s instruction,” Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan told the cabinet today.

Two Armenian soldiers were killed in Karvachar last night. Spokesman for the Armenian Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhannisyan confirmed the news to Public Radio of Armenia.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan had a meeting with Bundestag President Norbert Lammert today, President’s Press Office reported.

The interlocutors attached importance to the role of inter-parliamentary cooperation in the development of interstate relations.

President Sargsyan emphasized Mr. Lammert’s personal contribution to the development of bilateral relations. “You not only encourage inter-parliamentary ties, which have formed a practical platform for full comprehension of reciprocal interests, but also keep issues related to the Armenian people in the spotlight,” the Armenian President said.

As a testament to his words, President Sargsyan noted Mr. Lammert’s participation to the events conducted in Germany in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, as well as his statement at the special session of the Bundestag dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. Norbert Lammert expressed confidence that the official visit of the President of Armenia and meetings with the leadership of Germany conducted in the framework of the visit to Berlin, will elevate the Armenian-German political dialogue to a new level and will expand cooperation of the two countries.

The parties discussed also issues related to the future development of the Armenia-EU relations and expressed hope that the new framework Agreement, which will institutionalize the RA-EU relations, will be signed in the nearest future. In response to Mr. Lammert’s question regarding the constitutional changes conducted in Armenia, President Sargsyan informed him on the forthcoming developments conditioned by the changes and expressed gratitude to the German side for the consultative assistance to the process.

At the meeting, discussed were also the latest developments related to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Former French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has been fined 30,000 euros for calling the Nazi gas chambers a “detail” of World War Two, the BBC reports.

He was convicted of contesting crimes against humanity.

The former Front National chief was convicted of the same charge in 2012 after saying France’s Nazi occupation had been “not particularly inhumane”.

France has strict laws against Holocaust denial.

Mr Le Pen told a journalist his remarks “corresponded to my thought that the gas chambers were a detail of the history of war”.

Asked if “millions of deaths” could be called “point of detail”, Mr Le Pen said: “It is not a million deaths, it is the gas chambers. I’m talking about specific things. I have not talked about the number of dead. I spoke of a system. I said it was a detail of the history of warfare.”