Author: Chalian Meline

The delegation of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly headed by its President Sergey Naryshkin has arrived in Armenia for the sitting of the CSTO PA.

Upon their arrival in Armenia, members of the delegation, accompanied by Deputy Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Edward Sharmazanov, visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial to pay tribute to the memory of the 1.5 million innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide.

“I visit Tsitsernakaberd Memorial every time I arrive in Armenia,” Sergey Naryshkin said.

“It’s necessary to remember what happened 100 years ago to exclude reoccurrence of such tragedies in the future. Every year the Russian State Duma commemorates the Armenian Genocide and adopts corresponding statements, expressing our condolences and our stance on the tragic events of 1915,” Sergey Naryshkin noted.

The European Central Bank cut all its interest rates and expanded its monthly bond purchases by a third as President Mario Draghi strives to fend off the threat of euro-area deflation, reports.

The 25-member Governing Council, meeting in Frankfurt on Thursday, cut the rate on cash parked overnight by banks by 10 basis points to minus 0.4 percent, and its benchmark rate to zero. Bond purchases were raised to 80 billion euros ($87 billion) a month, starting in April, and corporate bonds will now be eligible. Draghi will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. local time.

Market expectations for more stimulus had risen after the ECB said it would review its program as persistent weakness in consumer prices and a Chinese slowdown threaten to undermine the euro-area recovery.

Asbarez – On Tuesday night, undergraduate  student government bodies at both the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) overwhelmingly voted to divest over $74 million dollars of University of California bonds and investments in the Republic of Turkey for its continuous denial and perpetuation of the Armenian Genocide. UCSD and UCSB, within an hour of one another, became the seventh and eighth UC campuses to pass this resolution, respectively.

“Genocide and genocide denial go way past murder- it is a heinous act that aims to degrade an experience of a whole people and ethnicity,” remarked Seda Byurat, chairperson of the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee (AGCC) at UCSD, during her presentation to the Associated Students government body.

The resolution at UCSD, titled “A Resolution to Divest from the Republic of Turkey to End the Perpetuation of the Armenian Genocide,” passed with a unanimous vote of 25-0-0 at the Price Forum Center at around 7:45 PM. It was presented and lobbied for by the UCSD AGCC and received overwhelming support from official UCSD student organizations. Student organization co-sponsors at UCSD included the Asian Pacific Islander Student Alliance, Black Student Union, Kaibigang Pilipin@, Movimiento Estudiantiol Chican@ de Aztlan, Muslim Student Association, Native American Student Alliance, Queer People of Color, Students with Disabilities Coalition, and Multicultural Greek Council.

The resolution at UCSB passed with an overwhelming 21-0-1 vote at the Flying A Studio of the University Center at around 8:25 p.m., and was presented and lobbied for by the UCSB ASA and Armenian students on campus.

“We need to act as Armenian diasporans and use the resources that we have as college students to do something. It is our duty as diasporans to fight for our global Armenian community,” said Sose Abraamyan, vice-president of UCSB’s Armenian Students’ Association. “I’m so proud of our divestment team at UCSB but also the Armenian Youth Federation and All-Armenian Student Association for giving us this opportunity.”

These resolutions are part of a larger initiative called #DivestTurkey, which calls on all institutions to divest from the Republic of Turkey until Armenian genocide justice is realized, which is spearheaded by the Armenian Youth Federation Western United States (AYF), which is a grassroots community organization dedicated to social justice and empowerment of youth, the All-Armenian Student Association, campus Armenian Students’ Associations (ASAs), and other local activists.

AYF Central Executive chairperson Gev Iskajyan stated, “The #DivestTurkey initiative began in order to connect and provide resources for university students and activists on campuses across America to divest all holdings in the Republic of Turkey’s government until reparations for the Armenian genocide are met and until genocide is no longer a profitable venture.”

Within 13 months, undergraduate student government bodies at UC Los Angeles, Berkeley, Irvine, Davis, Riverside, Santa Cruz, San Diego, and Santa Barbara, and the UC Student Association, the official voice of over 240,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, have passed official resolutions calling on the UC to divest all financial holdings in the Republic of Turkey immediately and refrain from making any further investments in the Republic of Turkey in order to remove the UC’s complicity in the perpetuation of the Armenian Genocide.
“The AYF plans to continue building on the momentum of the #DivestTurkey initiative, working with colleges and universities in order to introduce similar resolutions in the coming weeks and months,” confirmed Iskajyan.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been voted Player of Matchday 23. Users of Bundesliga’s official website chose the midfielder from Borussia Dortmund as best actor in the nine games last weekend after his strong performance against Hoffenheim.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored the equalizer and provided an assist in Dortmund’s 3:1 win.  With his ninth goal of the season, he hit his personal season record in the league (2013/14).

Every time the Armenian has scored in the Bundesliga, Dortmund has won.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan signed decrees, relieving Gorik Hakobyan of the duties of the Director of the National Security Service and appointing him as Adviser to President.

According to another presidential decree, Georgi Kutoyan was relieved of the duties of the Deputy Prosecutor General and was appointed Director of the National Security Service.

Georgi Kutoyan was born in Yerevan, in 1981.

• In 2002 graduated with honors from the Law Department of the Rostov State University in the Russian Federation.
• In 2005 concluded postgraduate studies at the Institute of Philosophy and Law of the RA National Academy of Sciences, defended a thesis titled “The 1950 Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the Republic of Armenia’s National Legal System” (constitutional and legal research) and was awarded the scientific degree of a Candidate of Juridical Sciences.
• In 2007 graduated from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University) at the US.
• In 2002-2010 was teaching at the Armenian-Russian (Slavic) University, at the RA State Governance Academy and at the RA National Academy of Sciences.
• In 2005-2006 worked at the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia, first as a researcher at the scientific and teaching center and later as a lecturer at the Law and Structural Reforms Division.
• In 2006-2007 worked in the Office of the Ombudsman of Armenia, as a Senior Advisor to the Ombudsman, and in 2008-2010 as the Senior Legal Advisor of the Ombudsman Staff.
• In 2008 received a lawyer’s license, in 2010-2011 was engaged in private practice as a lawyer.
• In 2011-2016 was Assistant to the President of Armenia.
• In 2011-2014 was the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Strategy Monitoring Commission under the Presidential Anti-Corruption Council
• By the April 17, 2013 decree of the President of Armenia was awarded the Mkhitar Gosh Medal.
• In 1998-2000 was trained at the RF Rostov State University Military Training Department as a reserve officer.
• Kutoyan is the State Counselor of Justice Class I.
• Speaks Russian, English, and French.
• Married, with a son.

French authorities have accused the social media giant of unfairly tracking people’s information. The accusation comes the same week Facebook faced a major setback in India, Deutsche Welle reports. 

Privacy agency CNIL and competition agency DGCCRF said separately this week that Facebook must change the way it collects users’ data.

According to the two government-affiliated agencies, the California-based tech company has been tracking and using data in breach of French law. Facebook has even been collecting the data of non-users who visit a public page on the website.

CNIL also accused the company of illegally collecting people’s personal information – such as religious beliefs and sexual orientation – without their consent.

The privacy agency warned it would impose fines on the company within three months if it didn’t change its method of data collection. Those fines could amount to as much as 150,000 euros ($170,000).

“The protection of privancy is a priority for Facebook,” the company responded in a statement, according to German news agency DPA. “We are confident that our service is in conformity with European data protection laws.”

AFP Photo/Ozan Kose

 

Internationally acclaimed Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk has accused the European Union of turning a blind eye to the state of democracy in Turkey because of its cooperation in the migration crisis, local media reported on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reports.

“They have forgotten all their values,” Pamuk told the Hurriyet newspaper in an interview, referring to the EU, adding that the fight against the Islamic State group and the migrant crisis had “tied Europe’s hands”.

Brussels reached an agreement with EU hopeful Turkey in November to encourage Ankara to keep refugees inside its territory, after a mass influx of migrants crossed into the EU last year, stoking tensions in several member states.

The deal also gave new momentum to Turkey’s years-long push to become a member of the EU, which had long been held up by several issues including its human rights record.

Pamuk criticised the 28-nation bloc for ignoring Turkey’s recent record in freedom of expression under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).

“They are looking to us as they looked to Saudi Arabia once upon a time: If (Turkey) is doing what we want, we don’t care what they do at home.”

Pamuk lamented recent developments in Turkey, including the detention of leading opposition journalists Can Dundar and Erdem Gul on charges of revealing classified information.

The two journalists with the Cumhuriyet newspaper are facing multiple life sentences on charges of revealing state secrets in a report that alleged Erdogan’s government tried to send arms into Syria.

“I am a person who says ‘let’s talk about literature only’ but it is no longer possible,” Pamuk said.

“You cannot sit and write your novel when Can Dundar is in jail.”

An advocate of Turkish membership of the EU, Pamuk said: “In democratic countries, people do not have to repeat like a parrot the opinions of the (party) that won the last election.”

The author, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006, has just completed a new novel “The Red-Haired Woman,” which will be released in Istanbul on Tuesday.

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France – welcome efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and are prepared to work cooperatively with those committed to a peaceful settlement.

We understand that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) may consider resolutions on the conflict in the near future and remind PACE, and other regional and international organizations, that the Minsk Group remains the only accepted format for negotiations.

We appreciate the interest paid by PACE members, but urge that steps not be taken which could undermine the Minsk Group’s mandate from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe or complicate ongoing negotiations.

Real Salt Lake has acquired FW Yura Movsisyan as a Designated Player via loan from FC Spartak Moscow in the Russian Premier League, General Manager Craig Waibel announced today.  The 28-year-old striker returns to RSL – pending receipt of his ITC from the Russian Federation – after winning MLS Cup with the Claret-and-Cobalt in his final match with the club in 2009, the State of Utah’s lone major professional sports championship since 1973.

“For me, it’s been a long time I’ve been wanting to come back,” said Movsisyan, whose 2016 RSL jersey will reprise the #14 he wore with the Utah side from 2007-09. “Obviously Salt Lake was my first choice because it was such a great place for me and my family.  I felt at home in Utah.  Leaving with a championship – I want to come back and do that again.

“I want to win more championships with Salt Lake – with the club that I was part of the evolution.  I was part of the team that went basically from the bottom to being champions.  This is what I want to do again and what I’m excited about.  For me, it’s an amazing thing to come back.”

The 2016 season will mark the Armenian International’s second stint with RSL, having previously played with Real Salt Lake from 2007-2009, coming to Utah via trade with the then-Kansas City Wizards.  In three MLS campaigns on the Wasatch Front, Movsisyan played 53 regular-season matches with the Claret-and-Cobalt, scoring 15 goals while helping RSL to the 2009 MLS Cup title.

Movsisyan owns the distinction of notching a stoppage-time equalizer at Colorado in the 2008 regular-season finale to vault RSL into the postseason for the first time, and notching the club’s first-ever playoff goal a week later against the club’s expansion brethren CD Chivas USA.  Movsisyan currently ranks sixth overall in club history with 15 MLS regular-season goals scored.

“Yura is a goalscorer,” said Waibel, the former MLS Cup and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Champion now in his first full year as RSL General Manager. “He’s always been a goalscorer and statistically speaking, his numbers are undeniably productive no matter where he’s played.  He’s at an age right now and at a point of his life right now, he had a priority with his wife that they wanted to move back to the States.  Everything just added up to make sense for him to come.  We have an undeniable interest to bring in good soccer players and goalscorers and Yura is one of those.  We believe he’s a double-digit goalscorer and we’re really excited to get him back out on the field and start producing.”

The US, South Korea and Japan have said they will be united in their response to North Korea’s claim to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, the BBC reports.

North Korea said it carried out the test on Wednesday – if confirmed it would be its fourth nuclear test, and its first of the more powerful H-bomb.

The UN Security Council has also agreed to start drawing up new measures against North Korea.

But scepticism remains over whether the North really did conduct such a test.

Experts have said the seismic activity generated by the blast was not large enough for it to have been a full thermonuclear explosion.