Author: Bedik Zaminian

Lusine Avanesyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Stepanakert

“It’s time for the Nagorno Karabakh to return to the negotiating table and represent its interests as an independent state,” former US Ambassador to Armenia John Evans told reporters in Stepanakert.

Mr. Evans is visiting Nagorno Karabakh with the delegation of the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF).

“I think that Nagorno Karabakh should participate in the negotiation process,” the ex-Ambassador said, reminding that Nagorno Karabakh was a party to the 1994 ceasefire agreement.

Asked about the negotiation process, John Evans said: “I do not participate in the process directly, but I respect the activity of US Ambassador James Warlick and the other Co-Chairs.”

He hailed the activity of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, noting that “he always stresses the need to solve the issue in a peaceful way.

John Evans is the Adviser to the COAF Board of Directors. “Together with COAF Chairman Dr. Garo Armen we are ready to help the people of Artsakh, because they have been experiencing difficulties with the whole Armenian nation for more than a century now. We know there have been tragedies. The latest events have further strengthened the people, but we are confident we can achieve even more together. I mean the humanitarian programs,” he said.

The ex-Ambassador has already been blacklisted by Baku for his visit to Nagorno Karabakh.

We are proud and grateful for the Pope’s visit to Armenia and his attitude, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with Vatican Radio ahead of the Pontiff’s visit.

“For years he has expressed his warm attitude and respect for the nation, which was the first to adopt Christianity as state religion, and as we, Armenians, understand, this comes from his beliefs, from his heart,” the President said.

Speaking about the expectations from the visit, President Sargsyan said: “Fifteen years ago Pope John Paul’s visit to Armenia was dedicated to the 1700^th anniversary of adoption of Christianity. Pope Francis’ visit is dedicated to another important jubilee – the 25^th anniversary of Armenia’s independence.”

“The relations between Armenia and Vatican have always been remarkable for the high-level political dialogue, because the relations are based on similar Christian values, common historical heritage and principles and similar approaches towards issue of the contemporary world, which are hard to solve,” President Sargsyan said.

He added that the relations further deepened after the opening of the Armenian Embassy at the Vatican and the Holy Mass the Pontiff celebrated on the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The President also attached importance to the proclamation of Gregory of Narek as ‘doctor of church.’

Speaking about the Karabakh issue, President Sargsyan said “our position is clear.” “The Karabakh conflict should be solved exceptionally in a peaceful way. Before the April events we were speaking about mutual concessions, today it’s hard for people to understand that speaking about concessions is possible with a country, which violates its international commitments. I’m confident, however, that we’ll find the best solution to the Karabakh issue, the best for the people of Nagorno Karabakh, not for Azerbaijan or Armenia,” President Sargsyan said.

The package solution to the Karabakh conflict should be based on Azerbaijan’s recognition of the right of the people of Nagorno Karabakh to self-determination, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has said.

The comments come after Novruz Mammadov, deputy head of Azerbaijani presidential administration, chief of the administration’s foreign relations department, said in an interview with local TV channels that an agreement on the stage-by-stage settlement of the Karabakh conflict had been reached in St. Petersburg.

“Novruz Mammadov has never participated in any negotiations, and the summit in Saint Petersburg was no exception. He was present only at the working dinner, during which reference was made only to the creation of an investigation mechanism and enlargement of the team of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office,” Minister Nalbandian said in comments to Armenpress.  

“As for the package settlement of the Karabakh conflict, it should be first of all based on the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh people’s right to self-determination by Azerbaijan,” Edward Nalbandian said. He added that no agreement on the final resolution of the conflict had been reached in Saint Petersburg.

“At this stage Azerbaijan should unequivocally implement the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg, which include: settlement of the Karabakh conflict exceptionally in a peaceful way, respect for the ceasefire agreements of 1994 and 1995, and expansion of the team of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office. All this will allow to create favorable conditions for the resumption of talks on the settlement of the conflict,” Minister Nalbandian concluded.

 

 

 

The 9th DigiTec Business Forum will be held in Yerevan June 17-18 with an aim of contributing to the search for best technological solutions, providing the technology companies with an opportunity to meet and present themselves to potential customers. About 70 organizations have applied for participation this year.

Yes For Europe forum of European Partners and an Armenian-German business forum will be held within the framework of the event.

Modernization of military industry through application of innovative technologies will be the key topic of the forum, Karen Vardanyan, Executive Director of the Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE), told reporters today.

The Armed Forces and UITE have established a joint commission to sum up the framework of issues that will be submitted to IT specialists for solution.

According to Karen Vardanyan, three issues related to the modernization of military production are being considered today. “The short-term goal is to find solutions to counter the rival, which envisages either purchase of new weapons or modernization of old ones.  The medium-term objective is to create new military industry on the basis of existing technologies. The third issue is a strategic one, we have to think what kind of military industry we want to see in 15-20 years,” he said.

Representatives of the Armed Forces are expected to actively participate in the DigiTec forum.

Information security expert Samvel Martirosyan said the April war focused the attention on the need to ensure cyber security.

Gala Concert of the CIS Youth Symphony Orchestra, dedicated to the Russia Day and the 25^th anniversary of the Commonwealth of Independent States will take place on June 12 with the support of the CIS Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation  Fund (IFESCCO) and the Russian Government. The orchestra will perform under the direction of the Honored artist of RA Sergey Smbatyan who is also the special guest of the event. The concert will be held in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. The gala evening will be decorated with the musical pieces of composers of Russia and CIS.

Among the honored guests of the concert will be the leaders of musical educational institutions of CIS, deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation as well as the ambassadors of different countries.

First performance of the CIS Youth Symphony Orchestra was held in November 12, 2007 under the leadership of famous conductor, People’s Artist of Russia, Kazakhstan and Tatarstan Fuat Mansurov. Over the years well known conductors such as Yuri Simonov, Vladimir Spivakov and Mark Gorenstein were heading the orchestra.

Eventually the CIS Youth Symphony Orchestra became a platform for the youngsters of the Commonwealth to demonstrate their achievements in the area of performing art. The orchestra united the musicians from different performing schools, following various styles, genres and trends. The entire generation of young musicians from the Commonwealth got a huge support in the very beginning of their professional career through the CIS Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan participated today in the unveiling of a monument dedicated to the heroes killed in the April war.

The monument was erected in the park named after Tatul Krpeyan at the initaitve of the Student Council of the Armenian State University of Economics and the Youth Foundation of Armenia.

The author of the monument is Vardan Harutyunyan.

PM Abrahamyan laid flowers at the memorial and the graves of the fallen freedom fighters, paying tribute to their memory.

The trial of Argentina and Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi on tax fraud charges is due to start in Spain, the BBC reports.

Messi and his father Jorge, who manages his financial affairs, are accused of defrauding Spain of more than €4m between 2007 and 2009.

The authorities allege that the two used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay to conceal earnings from image rights.

The Spanish tax agency is demanding heavy fines and prison sentences. They deny any wrongdoing.

The trial is expected to last for three days, with Messi appearing in court on Thursday.

HayPost will participate in the biggest international philatelic exhibition: World Stamp Show – NY 2016.

World Stamp Show -NY 2016 is a major once-a-decade eight day international philatelic exhibition which will take place May 28 through June 4 in New York, USA.

More than 120 philatelic associations and organizations and over 50 national postal operators from all over the world will take part in the event. HayPost will participate at such a major exhibition for the first time and will present Armenian philately in a strategically situated boot, thus bringing recognition to Armenia and Armenian philately. At the event Armenian stamp issuances from 2013 -2016 will be presented.

In the Framework of the event HayPost will cancel and put into circulation two souvenir sheets dedicated to “World Stamp Show 2016” and “Rio 2016” Olympic Games.

Continuing the innovative philatelic tradition HayPost CJSC has prepared a surprise for the philatelic society. The perforation of the new souvenir sheet is performed in the form of an apple (New York is also commonly known as the Big Apple)

In the Framework of the World Stamp Show a philatelic competition will be organized at which HayPost SJCS will also take part in a philatelic competition organized in the   Framework of the World Stamp Show – NY 2016.

“The Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan committed themselves to respect the ceasefire, to put in place important confidence-building measures, and to begin negotiations next month that can lead to a comprehensive settlement,”  Spokesperson for the US Department of State John Kirby told a daily briefing.

“They demonstrated what we believe to be political will to move beyond the status quo and to take steps that can benefit all the people in the region. And so as the Secretary made clear, the United States, for our part, will stand ready to assist them in that regard in whatever way they can,” he said.

The Spokesman said “it was a positive meeting and a step in the right direction. And now everybody has to do the hard work of implementing the things that they committed to.”

The European Broadcasting Union will consider the petition calling for a review of the results of 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, RIA Novosti reports.

“We know about the petition, and the issue will be discussed today,” EBU Press Secretary Paul Jordan told the agency. The EBU is expected to publish the answer later today.

Over 200,000 people signed the online petition launched on Change.org in just two days.

“We understand that jury voting and televoting process is a hard and emotional one, but the number of people who’ve signed this shows that how many people are sure that this year’s ‘winner’ is not the one who should really win the contest. We have no doubt in justice and privacy of contest that’s why we think that there’s need to revise the results,” Arthur Hovhannisyan from Armenia, author of the petition on the Change.org website, wrote.