Author: Chakrian Hovsep

The Pentagon, refusing to transfer the data on terrorist targets in Syria to the Russian military, continues to fight against the Islamic State terrorist group “in word only”, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Monday, reports.

He thus commented on a recent statement by the Pentagon spokesperson Michelle Baldanza who confirmed that the US military did not intend to share with Moscow the information on IS targets until Russia changes its policy towards Syrian President Bashar Assad. “We are not going to cooperate with Russia on Syria until they change their strategy of supporting Assad and instead focus on ISIL (IS),” Baldanza said.

“The hackneyed thesis has once again confirmed that the Pentagon will fight against IS in word only, instead of taking real action,” Konashenkov said. “The statement by the US Defense Department spokesperson Michelle Baldanza about the [US side’s] refusal from any cooperation in the fight against Islamic State is a broken record, and it’s high time to change it,” he said.

The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said that at last week’s news briefing of the chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, General Sergey Rudskoy, the military presented data on changes in the routes of illegal transportation of oil by the Islamic State militants. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the new routes run through the north-western regions of Iraq, which “are in the focus of constant attention of the United States.”

“We publicly told our American colleagues that it is necessary not to discuss the IS activities in Iraq, but to take real action to block the terrorists’ sources of income in the region,” Konashenkov said.

Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan received today Iran’s Energy Minister, co-chair of the Armenian-Iranian Intergovernmental Commission Hamid Chitchian. The interlocutors discussed a wide range of issues related to bilateral and regional cooperation, the activity of the Intergovernmental Commission.

The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of reciprocal high-level visits, which, he said, contribute to the further development and reinforcement of bilateral political, economic and cultural ties. He noted that the two countries are actively working to implement a number of joint projects, including the construction of the third Armenia-Iran power line.

Hovik Abrahamyan attached importance to the joint sitting of the Armenian, Georgian, Iranian and Russian Energy Ministries in Yerevan and welcomed the signing of a memorandum targeted at the development of regional energy cooperation and implementation of joint programs.

Hamid Chitchian said, in turn, that the memorandum will open wide perspectives for the development of cooperation in the field of energy, will ensure economic benefits and contribute to energy security in the region.

Russia hopes Armenia and Azerbaijan will be able to start a substantive dialogue on principles of settlement of the Karabakh conflict, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said, RIA Novosti reports.

“We hope the parties will start a substantive dialogue on the principles of settlement,” Lukashevich said.

He also declared that the recent meeting of the President of Armenia and Azerbaijan is a “considerable progress” towards the resolution of the conflict.

Turkish policemen have broken the door of Sourp Kevork (St. George) Armenian Church in Mardin, Turkey, Ermenihaber.am reports, quoting Turkish Democrathaber website.

Hatun Jajur, who has voluntarily undertaken to clean the church, had left for a while and found everything turned upside down upon return.

“No only the main entrance, but also all other doors of the church were broken,” Jajur said.

The Church is one of . For 15 centuries the Church of St. George was the spiritual home of the large Armenian community in the Turkish city of Mardin. This Grade I registered historical building was founded in 420 AD and was in use until the Armenian genocide of 1915. In spite of its outstanding historical and cultural importance, this monument is currently in an advance state of decay.

Photo: REUTERS/DADO RUVIC/FILE

 

Facebook, Google and Twitter are stepping up efforts to combat online propaganda and recruiting by Islamic militants, but the Internet companies are doing it quietly to avoid the perception that they are helping the authorities police the Web, Reuters reports.

On Friday, Facebook Inc said it took down a profile that the company believed belonged to San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik, who with her husband is accused of killing 14 people in a mass shooting that the FBI is investigating as an “act of terrorism.”

Just a day earlier, the French prime minister and European Commission officials met separately with Facebook, Google, Twitter Inc and other companies to demand faster action on what the commission called “online terrorism incitement and hate speech.”

The Internet companies described their policies as straightforward: they ban certain types of content in accordance with their own terms of service, and require court orders to remove or block anything beyond that. Anyone can report, or flag, content for review and possible removal.

President Serzh Sargsyan received today Alan Mill, PACE co-rapporteur on Armenia, who has arrived in Armenia to observe the referendum on Constitutional changes.

President Sargsyan said the periodic meetings provide an opportunity to discuss issues related to the comprehensive cooperation between Armenia and the Council of Europe.

Serzh Sargsyan hailed Council of Europe’s support to the reinforcement of democracy, protection of human rights and rule of law in Armenia, underlining that Armenia has been consistently implementing reforms over the past years.

Alan Mill, in turn, praised the preparatory work done before the referendum and hailed the close cooperation with the Venice Commission.

“Please, accept out best wishes for your efforts towards Constitutional amendments,” Alan Mill said.

Raffi Hovhannisyan participated in the Constitutional referendum today.

He cast his vote at polling station #10/6 in Nork Marash community, but tore the envelope before sending it to the bx.

“For the sake of the Republic of Armenia,” Hovhannisyan said.

“The document on establishment of a Joint Regional Air Defense System of Collective Security in the Caucasus has been worked out under the decision of the CSTO Collective Security Council,” Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Tonoyan said in comments to Mediamax.

“The draft agreement was reviewed by Armenian and Russian Defense Ministries’ experts for several times; it passed all the procedures of interstate synchronization in Armenia and was sent to the Russian side for the same procedure, which was successfully completed,” he said.

The draft agreement is ready and the sides will agree on the date and location of its signing.

Davit Tonoyan noted that the agreement regulates bilateral relations but, according to the arrangement of the parties, it will be enforced within CIS and CSTO as well in case of violation of the air space of one of the sides.

Speaking of the new components of the future agreement, Davit Tonoyan said: “The document creates a legal basis for air defense system of collective security in the Caucasus region within the state borders of Armenia and Russia. In case of a need for protecting Armenia’s air space, it will allow engaging not only forces of the air defense and aviation of the 102nd Russian military base stationed in Armenia but also the air defense and aviation of the South Military District of Russia. It will grant additional guarantees of security to Armenia and Russia”.

Can the new agreement be applied in case Azerbaijan restarts military actions in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone?

“I’m sure there are no grounds for doubting the effectiveness of air defense of the Defense Army of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic,” Tonoyan said.

Most Islamic State illegal oil exports are probably conducted through Turkey and Kurdish areas, and are facilitated by corrupt regional officials, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) counterterrorism officer and US Senate Foreign Relations Committee senior investigator John Kiriakou told

A US Treasury Department spokesperson told Sputnik this week that the Islamic State has made about $40 million in one month of oil sales, making close to $500 million a year.

“I’ve always assumed someone on the Turkish side of the border is making enough money out of it. There are too many vested interests involved for it to stop,” Kiriakou said on Thursday. “They greased the right people. Someone’s making a lot of money out of this.”

Kiriakou noted that the current Islamic State illegal oil trade followed the same basic pattern that longtime Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein used to defy international economic sanctions.

“[Selling and transporting oil] thorough Turkey was the way Saddam Hussein for years beat the sanctions regime imposed on him,” the expert said.

Turkey is an ally of the United States and has been a member of NATO for 60 years, but Kiriakou said the national government in Ankara could not prevent the corruption of local officials in outlying regions that enabled the secret oil trade.

“It’s not the official Turkish government. [It’s] probably corrupt elements of the Turkish military and officials in local and regional governments in southwest Turkey who are involved in this,” he explained.

The US government has the resources to seriously reduce and interdict this lucrative oil traffic, but so far has failed to focus on doing so, Kiriakou argued.

“It’s a question of priorities. They have never allocated enough resources to do so. Other goals and missions have been rated as having more urgent calls on intelligence and tactical resources,” he said.

However, Kiriakou told Sputnik that the Islamic State oil revenue lifeline could certainly be cut if Washington was determined to do so.

“I do believe that,” he insisted.

The richest oil fields that the Islamic State can access are south of Irbil in Iraq and the most obvious direction for the Islamic State to move the oil is westwards through Kurdish territory, Kiriakou explained.

In Saddam Hussein’s time, most of the oil secretly exported from Iraq to defeat the international sanctions regime was moved west through Kurdish territory, and that pattern is probably continuing now, he suggested.

Washington, he added, should be cooperating closely with Russia in cutting the Islamic State’s oil revenue flow.

“We should be working with the Russians to achieve a settlement of the conflict in Syria. We have basically the same aims that they do. Both of us agree that the Islamic State is a bad idea and we both want to get rid of it. But we’re not working with them on this,” Kiriakou said.

Iraq’s Oil Ministry told Sputnik that the Islamic State continues to sell hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day on the black market.

Chaired by Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, the Government discussed Armenia’s demographic status and development trends. The meeting reviewed the draft national action plan aimed improving the demographic situation in 2015-2017, which stems from the Government’s program of 2014.

It was noted that draft action plan seeks to create necessary preconditions for demographic development in Armenia through comprehensive assessment and targeted interventions. The meeting discussed current and future activities, directions, funding schemes and expected outcome.

Summing up the debate, the Prime Minister instructed to finalize the draft, considering the proposals and recommendations voiced at the meeting and submit it to the Government for approval.