Author: Albert Nalbandian

This season’s Greek Cup has been cancelled by the government after the semi-final first leg between PAOK Salonika and Olympiakos was abandoned because of crowd violence, the BBC reports.

PAOK fans threw flares and clashed with riot police after their team was denied a penalty with Olympiakos leading 2-1.

Greece’s deputy minister for sport Stavros Kontonis recommended the suspension of all competitive football.

But the Super League and other professional leagues will continue.

Galatasaray have been suspended from European competition for a year for breaching financial fair play rules, Uefa has confirmed, the BBC reports.

The club will be excluded from the Champions League or Europa League if they qualify this season or next.

European football’s governing body said in January that the Turkish champions had broken regulations on the level of financial losses allowed.

The Istanbul club is currently fifth in Turkey’s Super League.

Finishing in that position would leave Galatasaray outside the qualifying places for next season’s Champions League and Europa League.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has extended condolences on the death of the former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports. The letter reads:

Dear Madam Leia Boutros-Ghali,

It is with great grief that I learnt about the passing away of Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

He will always be remembered as one of the most remarkable figures in the international arena of the second half of the 20th century, as an outstanding statesman and brilliant diplomat, who led the United Nations at a critical juncture, who ably guided The International Organisation of La Francophonie, who put his vast knowledge and experience in the service of the peace, security and prosperity of the world with unreserved dedication.

I have an honor to personally know Boutros Boutros-Ghali, an extraordinary person. The meetings with him will be recalled by most cordial and warm memories.

I extend my deepest condolences to you, the family, friends, colleagues and all those who mourn the loss around the world.

With deep respect,
Edward Nalbandian

“The Minsk Group is the only mediation format that has been accepted by the sides and has the full confidence of all OSCE participating States,”  Ambassador Véronique Roger-Lacan, France’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE, said in an . She made the statement on behalf of the three countries co-chairing the Minsk Group, the Russian Federation, United States and France.

“The Minsk Group Co-chairs contribute to stabilizing the security situation by keeping regular contacts with the sides and through close cooperation with the personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office who monitors on a daily basis the situation on the ground, – in the context of regular and often deadly ceasefire violations – along the line of contact as well as along the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” she said.

“According to its mandate, which is inter alia “to conduct negotiations with the Parties to obtain conclusion of an agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict”, the Minsk Group Co-chairs aim at promoting, through the Madrid principles, a balanced approach to the settlement of the conflict, based in particular on the conciliation of the principles of self-determination, territorial integrity and non-use of force. It is not the inefficiency of the mediation process conducted by the Co-chairs that is to blame for the serious lack of progress in the negotiations, but the lack of political will of the parties to reach a peaceful settlement,” Véronique Roger-Lacan said.

“The Co-chairs are also working on the endorsement by the parties of confidence building measures, such as the creation of a prevention and investigation mechanism of the ceasefire violations along the line of contact, and dialogue between the communities of Nagorno-Karabakh. Their action also focuses on the humanitarian measure of exchanging data on the missing persons from the conflict, agreed at the Paris summit of 27 October 2014 and implemented by the ICRC,” the French Representative said.

“The Co-Chairs will continue to brief international and regional organizations interested in supporting the Minsk Group process. They will continue their engagement to work closely with the sides in order to reach a peaceful and sustainable settlement of the conflict,” she concluded.

The Russian Foreign Ministry will study the inquiry of Russian parliamentarians on denouncing the Moscow Treaty of Friendship and Brotherhood with Turkey signed on March 16, 1921, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a press briefing on Wednesday, reports.

“Indeed, the Russian Foreign Ministry has received a query from State Duma members proposing to denounce the treaty,” Zakharova said answering a question from an Azerbaijani journalist on the impact of the proposed move on Russia’s relations with this country, since Azerbaijan’s interests are affected in the treaty as well. “I can tell you that at this stage the query should be studied, what exactly is proposed. All this will be done in accordance with the established procedure. Meanwhile, we need to study this initiative.”

Zakharova added that “we are developing relations with Azerbaijan and will not do anything that could worsen them. On the contrary, we will focus on what could improve our relations with this country.” “We have a lot of things in common, in all areas,” she said.

Members of Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament) Valery Rashkin and Sergei Obukhov (Communist Party faction) have to the country’s leadership and the Foreign Ministry proposing to denounce the Moscow Treaty of Friendship and Brotherhood signed on March 16, 1921, by the government of Soviet Russia (RSFSR) and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Russia’s Izvestia daily wrote.

“We should consider a possibility of legal review of all Russian-Turkish agreements that are unfavorable for our country and its allies. Ankara must understand what the escalation of the conflict could be fraught with for it. Only this can bring it to earth and prevent it from carrying out new provocations,” Obukhov told Izvestia. He noted that “two of the three Transcaucasian republics – Georgia and Armenia – did not recognize the terms of the treaty considering it unfair.”

Under the treaty “the former Kars region and the southern part of the former Batumi region that were part of the Russian Empire since 1878 as well as former Surmalin district of Erivan Governorate that was part of the Russian Empire since 1828 with Mount Ararat were ceded to Turkey.”.

Armenian hackers from Monte Melkonian Cyber Army attacked Azerbaijani government websites for Armenia Army Day.

‪MMCA started a ‪‎DDOS attack ‪ed Azerbaijani ‪‎government websites and downed the E-Government Portal(e-gov.az), Ministry of Taxes of the Republic of Azerbaijan
(taxes.gov.az), The official Internet resource of the State Bodies (gov.az) ,‪ ‎leaked data from Civil Service Commission under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan (csc.gov.az).

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Armenia has welcomed the lifting of sanctions against iran.

“We welcome the start of implementation of‪ ‎Iran deal‬ and lift of Iran sanctions.” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in a statement.

“‎Armenia‬ is keen to deepen its mutually beneficial cooperation with friendly ‪‎Iran,” Minister Nalbandian added.

 

 

 

The dim perspectives of solving the Syrian crisis fade away with the escalation of tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran, expert of Iranian studies Arax Pashayan told reporters today. According to her, the current tension is just one stage of a long-standing confrontation.

Tensions were high in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution and further soared as a result of the “Arab spring.” The expert said the Syrian crisis is the direct reflection of those relations.” While Iran backs Bashar Assad, Saudi Arabia tries its best to see the Syrian President ousted. Of course, this is one of the reasons of the conflict, but’s what’s important today is to see how far the aggravation will go.

Arax Pashayan says the tension in Iran-Saudi Arabia relations put an end to the vague hopes of overcoming the Syrian crisis. This further complicates the situation in the Middle East, creating problems for the South Caucasus, including Armenia, as well.

Many analysts believe Christians will not live in the Middle East long; therefore, the future existence of the Armenian community in those countries is a big question.

According to Arax Pashayan, for our compatriets, who have been comfortably living in Syria for decades, Armenia is a difficult country with its current socio-economic and moral-psychological conditions. “That’s why many see it as a temporary shelter before leaving for other countries,” she said.

The expert believes Armenia will only benefit if Syrian Armenians stay in the country, ans should do its utmost to keep them here.

President Serzh Sargsyan received today Iran’s Energy Minister, Co-Chair of the Armenian-Iranian Commission on Intergovernmental Cooperation Hamid Hamid Chitchian.

The President emphasized the role of the commission in the deepening of Armenia’s relations with friendly Iran.

The interlocutors attached importance to the need to boost the trade-economic relations and utilize the existing potential. They referred to the process of implementation of the joint programs, new projects and the perspectives of mutually beneficial investment programs.

Serzh Sargsyan and Hamid Chitchian discussed issues of regional cooperation, as well. In this context they praised the implementation of the North-South energy project, which envisages parallel functioning of corresponding systems between Iran, Armenia, Georgia and Russia.

According to the Iranian Energy Minister, yesterday’s meeting of energy officials from the above-mentioned countries was an important and effective step from the perspective of solidarity between the countries of the region and gives new the development of cooperation in both bilateral and multilateral formats.

“Every time Azerbaijani Armed Forces use automatic guns, mortars and artillery equipment against the Republic of Armenia, they shoot in the direction of Astana, Dushanbe and Bishkek, Moscow and Minsk,” Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said, addressing the CSTO Collective Security Council.

“Remind that we have a corresponding paragraph in our Charter. If we not only fail to apply that article, to discuss the current situation, if we don’t consider it proper to pick up the phone and call to know what’s happening in allied Armenia, at the same time voting against each other’s interests within the framework of international organizations and adopting bilateral statements with third countries with their texts contradicting the interests of a CSTO partner, we put under fire the whole Organization, its reputation and capacity,” President Sargsyan stated.

“Azerbaijan’s policy is targeted at the aggravation of the conflict. Unfortunately, the situation has not only failed to stabilize, but has even worsened. The Azerbaijani side does not suffice with the use of heavy artillery, including ones of Turkish production. On December 8 they fired from a tank for the first time since the establishment of the ceasefire regime in 1994, and this raises the tension to a new and very dangerous level,” the President added.

Taking into consideration the recent tense atmosphere in the region, we should not rule out that Azerbaijan has been guided or supported by outer forces, the Armenian President concluded.