Armenpress News Agency , Armenia Tuesday PM attaches importance to engagement of all Armenians' potential in reforms YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan on May 30 hosted the delegation led by Chairman of the Central Board ofRamgavarAzatakan/ DemocraticLiberal Party Sergio Nahapetian, press service of the Government told Armenpress. The PM attached importance to the party’s activity in strengthening Armenia-Diaspora ties and maintaining Armenian identity in Diaspora. Karen Karapetyan said the Government is interested in engagement of potential of all Armenians in the reforms aimed at boosting investments, improving business environment, and his message addressed to Diaspora-Armenians was directed for that purpose. On behalf of the party Sergio Nahapetian expressed readiness to support implementing the Armenian Government’s programs and reforms, as well as solving vital issues. The sides exchanged views on issues related to Armenia-Diaspora cooperation, preservation of Armenian identity, strengthening ties with Fatherland, development of Armenia and Artsakh.
Author: Badalian Vardan
RFE/RL Armenian Report – 05/30/2017
Tuesday, Tsarukian Allies Quit Parliament . Tatevik Lazarian Armenia - The newly elected National Assembly holds its first sitting in Yerevan, 18May2017. Three members of Armenia's new parliament, who effectively revolted against businessman Gagik Tsarukian shortly after recent elections, have ceded their parliament seats to other members of his alliance. The Tsarukian Bloc won 31 of the 105 seats in the new National Assembly elected on April 2. Shortly after the vote, it submitted to the Central Election Commission (CEC) letters of resignation supposedly signed by 23 of its mostly successful election candidates. Twelve of those candidates told the CEC, however, that they did not sign the letters and would still like to become parliament deputies. The commission handed parliamentary mandates to eight of them. Tsarukian said through a spokeswoman last month that that all of those men had formally pledged ahead of the elections not to take up parliament seats if they fail to get a particular number of votes in various constituencies across Armenia. In the event, three of the deputies representing the Tsarukian Bloc -- Harutyun Gharagyozian, Khachik Manukian and Artyom Tsarukian (no relation) -- agreed to resign from the parliament. They formally ceased to be members of the National Assembly on Tuesday. The five other lawmakers refused to follow suit, while remaining affiliated with the second largest parliamentary force. Tsarukian's press secretary, Iveta Tonoyan, downplayed the three resignations, denying that there are disagreements within the bloc. "There were political agreements," she told reporters. "This is a political process." Tonoyan also did not confirm reports that Tsarukian has fallen out with Ishkhan Zakarian, the man who managed the bloc's election campaign and was also elected to the National Assembly. Asked to comment on rumors that Zakarian too will resign from the parliament, she said: "I have never heard about such an intention from Ishkhan Zakarian." OSCE Vows Continued Engagement In Armenia After Office Closure . Sargis Harutyunyan Armenia - OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier speaks at a news conference in Yerevan, 30May2017. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will continue to promote wide-ranging reforms in Armenia despite the closure of its Yerevan office forced by Azerbaijan, OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier said on Tuesday. "The closure of the office does not mean that we will conclude our cooperation with Armenia," Zannier said during a visit to Yerevan. "There are many important issues on our agenda." "We will therefore try to find various ways of working together and ensuring that the closure of the office only means that one chapter of our cooperation has been closed but other avenues of joint work have opened up," he told a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. The OSCE office has implemented projects relating, among other things, to human rights, tax and police reforms, gender equality and press freedom ever since it was opened in 2000. Azerbaijan vetoed late last year a further extension of its mandate, objecting to a humanitarian demining program sponsored by it in Armenia. It claimed that the program could "strengthen" the Armenian military in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenia has repeatedly shrugged off those allegations. It says that Baku is simply keen to force the closure of the Yerevan office after having a similar OSCE office in Baku shut down in 2015 in line with its poor human rights record. OSCE decisions on opening such missions and extending their activities have to be unanimously approved by all 57 member states of the organization. Baku did not drop its objections even after the Armenian government agreed in January to exclude demining from the wide range of OSCE activities in Armenia. Its uncompromising stance prompted a stern warning from the United States, with a senior U.S. diplomat saying in February that the office closure would "reflect poorly on Azerbaijan." A representative of Austria, the current holder of the OSCE presidency, told the OSCE's Permanent Council in Vienna on May 4 that the Azerbaijani government remains adamant in demanding the shutdown. The issue seems to have dominated Zannier's separate meetings with Nalbandian and President Serzh Sarkisian. The OSCE secretary general described the talks as "useful" in a written statement issued later in the day. "I would like to see the achievements of the Office preserved and built upon as far as possible," he added. Armenian-Azeri Summit `Unlikely For Now' . Sargis Harutyunyan Armenia - Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian at a news conference in Yerevan, 30May2017. A fresh meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents is still not on the cards despite international mediators' efforts to reinvigorate the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian indicated on Tuesday. "Armenia has never objected to meetings at the level of [foreign] ministers or presidents," he said. "If conditions are ripe, such meetings are possible. But this kind of meetings, especially at the high, presidential level, have to be properly prepared for. Ministerial meetings are aimed at ensuring that as well." "For the time being, we can only talk about a meeting at the ministerial level," Nalbandian told a joint news conference with Lamberto Zannier, the visiting secretary general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev most recently met in Saint Petersburg last July for talks hosted by their Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The Karabakh peace process has remained essentially deadlocked since then. Richard Hoagland, the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, expressed hope in March that Nalbandian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will "prepare the ground" for a fresh Aliyev-Sarkisian encounter. The two ministers met in Moscow in late April. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement on their talks said nothing about the possibility of an Armenian-Azerbaijani summit. Nalbandian also announced on Tuesday that Hoagland and his fellow Minsk Group co-chairs from Russia and France will visit Yerevan and Stepanakert next week. Press Review "Zhoghovurd" says the opposition Yerkir Tsirani party's decision to take up its five seats in Yerevan's newly elected municipal council means that its sessions are promising to be dramatic and heated. The paper says that Yerkir Tsirani leader Zaruhi Postanjian's presence in the council may have a "somewhat positive impact" on the work of the legislature and make life harder for Mayor Taron Markarian and his aides. But, it says, the party's decision not to boycott the council is not consistent with its tough anti-government stance. "Zhamanak" is highly skeptical about a new anti-corruption body that will be set up soon by the Armenian government. The paper predicts that the authorities will use the body to get rid of "undesirable" officials that will fall from their grace. "In other words, what is being created in Armenia is not a truly independent anti-corruption body # but an institution of, so to speak, intra-governmental inquisition," it claims. "The authorities will thus solve two issues. On one hand, the new structure will enable them to elevate their anti-corruption dialogue with international bodies to a new level # On the other hand, the intra-governmental inquisition will allow them to make the [government] system more manageable in the current period of transition." Interviewed by "168 Zham," Vadim Dubnov, a Russian political analyst, plays down the significance of a recent statement by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs that essentially held Azerbaijan responsible for the latest escalation of tensions in the Karabakh conflict zone. Dubnov argues that just a few months ago the Russian, U.S. and French co-chairs issued another statement that was more favorable to Azerbaijan. "I think that in or two or two weeks it will be forgotten in both Baku and Yerevan," he says. Dubnov also believes that the Azerbaijani leadership is presently "not quite interested in a de-escalation of the conflict." "And I am not fully convinced that Yerevan is interested in that," he adds. "Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" comments on the Karabakh Armenian military's decision to issue statements on truce violations on a weekly, rather than daily, basis from now on. General Movses Hakobian, the chief of the Armenian army's General Staff, is quoted as defending the decision on security grounds. The paper dismisses this speculation, saying that daily reports on the situation along the Karabakh "line of contact" would not reveal any military secrets to Baku. (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Erdogan’s Audacity: Turks Slam Police Breakup of D.C. Brawl
Life Zette
“A written and verbal protest was delivered due to the aggressive and unprofessional actions taken, contrary to diplomatic rules and practices, by U.S. security personnel,” Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday in an official statement.
Just what were these aggressive and unprofessional actions, according to the Turkish officials? On Tuesday, members of Turkish PM Recep Erdogan’s security detail attacked a group of pro-Kurdish and Armenian protesters who were gathered outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence. Local D.C. police quickly intervened to stop them.
Eleven people were injured, including a police officer, and two Turkish officials were briefly taken into custody, then reportedly released due to diplomatic immunity.
Both majority Muslim Kurds and majority Christian Armenians have longstanding grievances with the Turkish government. Armenians take issue with Turkey’s history of backing Azerbaijani territorial claims. Kurds have long protested what they view as second-class standing in Turkey and Turkey’s extremely strong opposition to the creation of an independent Kurdish state.
The Turkish foreign ministry did not go into specifics of how they thought D.C. metro police should have handled the incident, which occurred outside the Turkish embassy grounds.
Trump visits Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, meets Armenian Patriarch
US President Donald Trump visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Monday.
Representatives of the Catholic, Armenian and Greek-Orthodox church met the president.
Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian, Custos of the Holy Land Fr. Francesco Patton, and Greek-Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III greeted President Trump.
President Donald Trump also paid his respects at the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, AP reports.
Trump is on his first visit to Israel as president.
Minsk Group’s non-standard statement points out the part responsible for escalation – Nalbandian
Public Radio of Armenia
17:09,
Armenia’s acting Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland on the sidelines of the 127th Session of the Committee of the Ministers of the Council of Europe in Cyprus.
The interlocutors discussed a number of issues facing the Council of Europe and the routes of their resolution. The Secretary General hailed the effective cooperation established between Armenia and the Council of Europe.
Edward Nalbandian briefed Thorbjørn Jagland on the results of the parliamentary elections held in Armenia in April and praised the Venice Commission’s export support. Reference was made to the developments within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the need to take practical steps to recover the trust in the organization.
Edward Nalbandian presented the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs towards creation of conditions conducive to furthering the process of peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.
Armenia’s top diplomat said “Baku is doing the utmost to disrupt the peace process.” Opposing the consistent calls of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the international community to strongly observe the ceasefire regime, Azerbaijan keeps violating the trilateral agreements on ceasefire.”
Edward Nalbandian stressed that “Armenia constantly calls on the OSCE Minsk Group to point out the party responsible for ceasefire violations. “By turning down the creation of an investigation mechanism, Azerbaijan is trying to avoid responsibility for periodic violations of the ceasefire regime,” Nalbandian said.
He added, however, that “the non-standard statement issued by the Co-Chairs yesterday clearly points to the party responsible for escalation.”
American-Armenian Carolyn Rafaelian listed among 50 Most Powerful Moms of 2017
The has listed American-Armenian designer Carolyn Rafaelian, a mother of three children, among the 50 Most Powerful Moms of 2017.
“A new addition to , Carolyn was dubbed leader of the jewelry world with an estimated net worth of $700 million. She was born into the jewelry business, but, initially, working in her parent’s Rhode Island factory served as punishment.
She told that her Armenian-American parents would send her and her four siblings to “card earrings” when they fell out of line. Eventually, she started designing special talismans for friends, adorned with symbols and saints that offered spiritual protection. Those took off and Alex and Ani was born in 2004—so named for her two oldest daughters.
Carolyn gives back through her Charity by Design division, donating a portion of the proceeds from specially designed charms to more than 50 nonprofits, including March of Dimes, Living Water International and VH-1 Save the Music. Last year, they donated $2 million to UNICEF. When she started the company, she told DuJour she was honest with her then-young kids about what her life as a working woman was like.
“Let’s not forget, we are a strong species,” she said. “I think men have their challenges now, women have their challenges now, but it’s only a challenge if you want it to be a challenge. My father did not treat any of us differently, my brother or his girls. We did what we needed to do, we were all treated the same, and we made what we made out of life.”
Yelk bloc accepts results of municipal elections in Yerevan
The opposition Yelk bloc has accepted the results of municipal elections held in Yerevan on Sunday, May 14.
In a statement released today the bloc thanked all citizens, who provided financial, organizational, political and moral support.
“Yelk bloc has a strong and stable army of supporters in the capital and considers itself the delegate of about 70 thousand residents of Yerevan in the City Council and will speak on their behalf,” the statement reads.
The bloc pointed to a number of cases of vote-buying and pledged to take measures both in the National Assembly and the City Council to ‘ensure proper investigation of all illegal phenomena’ observed during the parliamentary and municipal elections.
HH Karekin II’s Message on Victory and Liberation of Shushi Day
His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, has issued a message on the Day of Victory and Liberation of Shushi:
From the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, we extend our Pontifical blessings and congratulations to our faithful people, on the occasion of the day of the glorious victory of May 9, the Liberation of Shushi and the foundation day of the Defense Army of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).
This triple wonder and celebrations of May, again fill our souls with joy. Today, we reflect on and reevaluate the significant efforts that our people have made, which contributed to the victory in the Great Patriotic War and the establishment of peace in the world. This victorious day during the Artsakh Liberation struggle, our heroic sons, with unbending will and a brave spirit, liberated Shushi, which was of important strategic significance, and the center of our national culture. During those decisive days, the Defense Army was established which is the guarantee of peace and security of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh).
Today, despite the peace-loving spirit of our people, the defense of the frontline continues to be urgent. Facing these war challenges, we are pledged to national unity, the prospering of the homeland is an necessity for us, as well as the strengthening of the Armenian Army, which is the guarantee of our security.
We pray that Almighty God grants comfort to the souls of our hero sons who died for the homeland, grants peace to the world, and strengthens and keeps our people and our native statehood secure, now and forever. Amen.
St. Petersburg Governor visits Armenian Genocide Memorial
The delegation led by St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko visited the Tsitsernakaberd memorial today to pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims.
The Governor was accompanied by Deputy Mayors of Yerevan Kamo Areyan and David Ohanyan.
US regrets impending closure of the OSCE Office in Yerevan
The US Missio to the OSCE has expressed regret over the closure of the OSCE Office in Yerevan.
“The United States regrets the impending closure of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. We lament the loss of the last OSCE field operation in the South Caucasus,” Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Kate M. Byrnes told the Permanent Council.
The statement reads:
Field operations provide invaluable support to their host countries by helping to strengthen adherence to OSCE principles and commitments, providing early warning and crisis management, and promoting dialogue between government and civil society.
We appreciate the determined effort of both the German and Austrian Chairmanships to resolve the impasse over the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. We regret that Azerbaijan refused to agree to extend the mandate unless the Office ended its humanitarian demining-related activities. Armenia, in the spirit of compromise, agreed that the Office in Yerevan would end these activities. Despite months of effort by the Chairmanship, it could not find language satisfactory to all participating States regarding a Permanent Council decision extending the mandate of the Office.
We recognize the Armenian government’s cooperation with the OSCE. The Office in Yerevan has played an important role in supporting the host country with implementation of its OSCE commitments in all three dimensions. The Office’s promotion of community policing; assistance with tax and regulatory reform; and support for human rights defenders, women’s equality and media freedom, were bringing about positive results.
The United States encourages the OSCE to continue cooperation with the Republic of Armenia – with both the government and civil society. We call on the Chairmanship and the Secretary General to explore new ways of maintaining an OSCE presence in Armenia, and throughout the South Caucasus.
Finally, the United States would also like to thank Ambassador Avakov and his staff for their outstanding work and dedication, particularly during the past months of uncertainty over the future of the Office. We wish them the best in their future endeavors.