ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia Friday Children of Armenians from other countries will be able to obtain Armenian citizenship in a simplified manner Yerevan October 27 Alexander Avanesov. Children of Armenians, who are citizens of other countries, will be able to obtain Armenian citizenship in a simplified manner. Corresponding amendments to the Law "On Citizenship" were made at the meeting of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia on October 27. In addition, as the Deputy Chief of Police of Armenia Vardan Yeghiazaryan stated, in order to reduce the number of fictitious marriages for the purpose of acquiring citizenship, the law requires a minimum of two years to live with a citizen of Armenia in a registered marriage, provided that they live in Armenia for one year. Issues related to the granting of citizenship will be handled by an interdepartmental commission that will submit proposals to the Prime Minister, and the latter will have the right to apply to the president for granting citizenship.
Author: Antonian Lara
Hamshen Couple Arrested in Turkey for Being Armenian
From left to right: Nurcan Vayiç and Cemil Aksu
8-Year-Old Daughter Left Without Parents
HOPA, Turkey – A Hamshen Armenian husband and wife have been arrested by Turkish authorities within two days of each other for being Armenian. As a result of the arrest, their eight-year-old daughter Arev, who witnessed her parents being hauled away, is now alone.
According to Turkish media, Cemil Aksu was arrested Wednesday while Nurcan Vayic was arrested two days prior during when Turkish police raided their house in the middle of the night.
Vayic has already been convicted and sentenced to three months imprisonment for her anti-government writings online while the husband has not been charged yet. Aksu and Vayic were both bloggers who actively criticize the Turkish government.
Vayic has extensively written about the growing fascism in Turkish government, which has recently called for persecution of the people of Hamshen. Her friends are convinced that her arrest was a direct result of an organized plot against her.
The town of Hopa, in the Hamshen region of Turkey is 11 miles from the Georgian border near Javakhk.
Balayan: Baku tries to distract the attention of the international community from the corruption scandal through the Karabakh conflict
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia Tuesday Balayan: Baku tries to distract the attention of the international community from the corruption scandal through the Karabakh conflict Yerevan October 24 Marianna Mkrtchyan. Baku once again misused the site of the international conference in Palermo, which has nothing to do with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This was stated in his microblog on Twitter by the press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan. "These manipulations are aimed at diverting attention from the corruption scandal, better known as Landromat, which has disgraced Azerbaijan to the whole world because of corruption and aggressive criminal positions," Balayan wrote. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian on October 24 in Palermo takes Participation in the OSCE summit on flows of refugees and migrants.Recall that the Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized CrimeCrime (OCCRP) unveiled an investigation into the establishment of the authorities Azerbaijan fictitious companies in the UK for the purpose of money laundering. In total, it is about 2.9 billion dollars, which went to pay bribes to European politicians, the acquisition of luxury goods and other self-serving purposes. The document notes that from 2012 to 2014, against the background of mass arrests of activists and journalists in Azerbaijan, representatives of the ruling elite of the country bribed European politicians who lobbied Baku's interests in the EU and blocked resolutions condemning human rights violations in the transcaucasian republic. From the accounts of these fictitious companies, personal expenses of high-ranking officials of Azerbaijan were also paid. In addition, the accounts of these companies received tens of millions of euros from the Russian supplier of arms - Rosoboronexport, the investigation notes. Later, this money was transferred to the account of the first vice-premier of Azerbaijan. Companies in the UK that participated in money laundering were registered with front men from Azerbaijan. These firms provided fictitious accounts, although billions of euros passed through their accounts. All of them were serviced in the Estonian branch of one bank - Danske Bank from Denmark. Data on the flow of money on their accounts was received by the Danish newspaper Berlingske, which shared them with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). The case was conditionally called "Laundromat".
Sports: Armenian weightlifting team comes the first at the European Championships, returns home with 32 medals
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 23 2017
Sport 14:50 23/10/2017Armenia
The Armenian weightlifting team recorded an outstanding result winning 32 medals, including 18 gold, 8 silvers, and 6 bronze at the U-20 and the U-23 European Weightlifting Championships held from October 15 -21 in Durres. Albania
As the country’s ministry of sport and youth affairs reported, in the U-20 tournament the representative of Armenia Arpine Dalalyan, competing in the 90+ weight class, was named the European champion with a total score of 228kg, claiming small gold medals both in the snatch and the sneak and jerk.
In the 75kg weight category, Sona Poghosyan of Armenian claimed the title of the European Champion. In the men’s competition of the U-20 tournament Simon Martirosyan claimed gold medal in the 105+ kg weight category, with a total score of 433kg, winning the gold in both events.
In the men’s competition of the U-23 tournament Gor Minasyan, competing in the 105+ kg weight class, Karush Ghukasyan – in the 94kg weight class, and Andranik Karapetyan – in the 85kg weight class, were declared European Champions.
Meanwhile Simon Martirosyan and Andranik Karapetyan were named the best athletes of respectively the U-20 and U-23 tournaments and awarded with special prizes.
The final results placed the Armenian national team the first at the championships with the most number of medals won during the competition.
Azerbaijani Press: Will Sargsyan dare to withdraw troops from occupied Azerbaijani territories?
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Sept 25 2017
17:49 (UTC+04:00)
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva / Trend
The meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and Edward Nalbandian in New York was rather technical, where the sides discussed ways out of the current stalemate in the region.
At the meeting, Mammadyarov and Nalbandian agreed to continue serious negotiations on the existing documents which are on the negotiating table.
The essence of these documents was voiced by former US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Richard Hoagland in the middle of summer. This is an open public document now, in which the first point by priority is the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories.
In New York, the sides also discussed the possibility of arranging a meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. Such a meeting will be significant only if the negotiators, as well as Azerbaijan and Armenia have a clear and specific agenda to be discussed by President Aliyev and President Sargsyan.
According to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen, such an agenda has been outlined and the sides are ready for substantive negotiations, at which concrete actions, rather than abstract ones, will be discussed.
If the proposals, voiced by Hoagland, are approved at the presidents’ meeting, it will be necessary to begin to implement these agreements, the first point of which is the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories.
By the way, the so-called Lavrov’s plan implied the same point, namely, the Armenian armed forces must be withdrawn from the occupied Azerbaijani territories and internally displaced people must return to their native lands.
Hoagland’s statement, by the way, implies that the US and Russian negotiators are unanimous on many points. France supports the main development, which also means the EU’s support. The UN also supports this process.
However, the number one issue in this situation is whether President Sargsyan will come to the meeting.
For example, following the meeting in St. Petersburg in 2016, at which a concrete plan of action was discussed, Sargsyan organized a tragicomedy with hostage-taking in Armenia to avoid the necessary steps to resolve the conflict.
Azerbaijani Press: The protest rally of the National Council of Democratic Forces
Turan news agency, Azerbaijani Opposition Sept 23 2017 The protest rally of the National Council of Democratic Forces Baku / 23.09.17 / Turan: Several thousand people gathered on Saturday for a protest rally of the National Council of Democratic Forces, which began at 15:00 at the stadium "Mehsul" in the Yasamal district of Baku. The rally is held under the slogan "Return the money stolen from the people!", almost $3 billion, which were illegally exported from the country under various pretexts in recent years and spent on bribery and lobbying the interests of the Azerbaijani authorities abroad. These facts were revealed by the international journalistic organization Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime (OCCRP). In particular, it was alleged that Baku bribed the German politician Eduard Lintner (former head of the PACE monitoring committee), the Bulgarian politician Irina Bokova (former UNESCO Director-General) and Italian politician Luca Bolonte (former vice-president of PACE). Lintner led the commission of observers from Germany in the presidential elections in Azerbaijan in 2013, Bokova held the photo exhibition "Azerbaijan - the space of tolerance" in the same year. In turn, Bolton received money to prevent the adoption of the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on political prisoners in Azerbaijan, Radio Liberty reports. The OCCRP argue that most of the funds that the Azerbaijani authorities brought to the accounts of fictitious British companies belonged to Azerbaijani banks, including the state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan. In addition, the Russian state company Rosoboronexport transferred $ 29 million to the "front man from Azerbaijan" in 2012. Two million dollars, presumably, went to bribes, the rest of the amount, it is claimed, went to the structures connected with high-ranking officials of Azerbaijan. However, the Azerbaijani government rejected all these accusations, saying that they are being spread by the Armenian lobby and philanthropist and businessman George Soros. The opposition of Azerbaijan considers the OCCRP report to be real and objective and requires the government to give explanations. -02D-
President Sargsyan receives congratulatory messages from Pope Francis, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and other leaders
Armenpress News Agency , Armenia Thursday President Sargsyan receives congratulatory messages from Pope Francis, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and other leaders YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. On the occasion of the 26th anniversary of the independence of Armenia, President Serzh Sargsyan receives congratulatory messages from heads of different states and international organizations, religious leaders and individuals. ARMENPRESS reports Pope Francis, Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump, President of China Xi Jinping, Queen Elizabeth II, President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe, President of the Federal Republic of Brazil Michel Temer, President of the Federal Republic of Austria Alexander van der Bellen, King of Belgium Philippe, King of Sweden Carl Gustav XVI, President of the Republic of India Ram Nath Kovind, President of Singapore Halimah Yacob, GovernorGeneralofAustralia Peter Cosgrove, President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev, President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, President of Romania Klaus Werner Iohannis, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili, President of the Italian Republic Sergio Machalilla, President of the United States of Mexico Enrique Pena Nieto, President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev, King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, President of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar al-Assad, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, Moroccan King Mohammed VI, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, President of the Republic of Moldova Igor Dodon have congratulated President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan who continues to receive new congratulatory messages.
US Congressman David Waladao in Artsakh
On September 18, Ashot Gulanyan, the Speaker of the Artsakh Republic National Assembly, received the member of David Waladao, the US House of Representatives, Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues.
Welcoming the congressman in Artsakh on his first visit, Ashot Gulanyan, the Speaker of the Parliament, hailed the efforts of the Congressional Commision on Armenian Issues aimed at the development of the Armenian-American relations and the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict. The President of the National Assembly emphasized the importance of humanitarian assistance provided by the US to Artsakh for a number of issues and emphasized the importance of the proposal made by David Valadao in the US Congress on promoting demining activities in Artsakh, in 2018.
Expressing gratitude for the reception, David Waladaonoted that during his first visit, he wished to get acquainted with Artsakh closely and understand the local specificity as deeply as possible.
At the request of the guest, the head of the Artsakh parliament also spoke about the attempts of Azerbaijan to destabilize the situation in the conflict zone, the role of international organizations in the prevention of the conflict and the current stage of the negotiation process.
Summing up the meeting, Ashot Ghulyan expressed conviction that such discussions create grounds for effective cooperation to promote peace in the region.
Arzik Mkhitaryan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, David Melkumyan Deputy Foreign Minister, Armine Alexanyan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Robert Avetisyan, Permanent Representative of Artsakh to USA, and Maria Mihranyan, Director of “Hayastan” Fund Us Department, the Republic of Artsakh, NA Press Service reports.
Armenia’s demographic situation improvement draft program submitted to government
Category
Society
During a consultation in the government led by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on September 12 the draft of Armenia’s demographic situation improvement program and the targeted actions have been presented.
The document has been developed by the ministry of labor and social affairs and derives from the government’s program.
The rapporteurs presented the actions and tools the use of which will contribute to ensuring sustainable demographic development.
As a result of discussions the PM considered it necessary to discuss what action in particular can affect the general demographic picture. He also attached importance to the study of international experience and tasked to amend the draft considering the voiced concerns.
Azerbaijani Press: Are Armenian media celebrating the US assistance to Azerbaijan?
News.az, Azerbaijan
Sept 11 2017
Mon 17:23 GMT | 20:23 Local Time
This assistance is a quarter less than what the representatives of Armenia expected to get in an apparent wish to misappropriate it.
The reports in Armenian media should be subjected to the deepest analysis and screened through several filters, so that there are no false opinions and judgments about any events described by Armenians.
Armenian press has for several days been celebrating the alleged adoption of several regulations by the US Senate Committee on Appropriations supported by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). Moreover, the point on assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh which has nothing to do with that organization goes separately in the list of numerous proposals.
However, of course, the Armenian lobby and the Armenian media preferred to ignore the fact that should have diminished their joy – next to the name of Nagorno-Karabakh, in the list of amendments submitted to the US Senate Committee, it is indicated in black and white that the region occupied by Armenia belongs to Azerbaijan. In other words, with the presentation of not very smart representatives of the Armenian Diaspora that uses all possible means to improve its recently shaken state, the Armenian media started celebrating the US assistance to the Azerbaijani region, which really needs it after all the years of Armenian occupation.
By the way, this assistance is a quarter less than what the representatives of Armenia expected to get in an apparent wish to misappropriate it, because they have a de facto access to these funds, and to cash in, as they did every year, on Nagorno-Karabakh and its unfortunate population.
However, the point is not this, but the skilful campaign launched by the Armenian lobbyists, presenting the document that, inter alia, outlines a project of assistance to the Azerbaijani region, as the victory of the Armenian lobby of the United States.
In fact, it is ridiculous to say that the Senate approves any amendments as a fait accompli, since the bill adopted by the Appropriations Committee should be first approved by the Senate, then agreed with the version of the House of Representatives, and after that approved by the president. And this is still a big question, which of these amendments will be signed, as, apparently, the Appropriations Committee has great disagreements with the White House on the issue of where money should be spent on.
For example, among other things, the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate unanimously supported a bill providing for the allocation of $ 51 bn to fund the State Department and international programs of the United States – $11 bn more than requested by the administration. In the accompanying note to the bill, the committee expressed dissatisfaction with the administration’s attempt to cut due expenses by 30%.
So, the outcome of this battle remains unclear until the moment of consideration of the matter.