12:39,
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. European Union Ambassador to Russia Markus Ederer arrived at the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, where he had been summoned over Lithuania’s restrictions on transits to the Russian region of Kaliningrad, TASS reports.
Lithuania informed Kaliningrad that transit of some goods from Russia to the region would be limited from June 18 due to EU sanctions, Kaliningrad Region Governor Anton Alikhanov said on June 17.
10:52,
YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. In an interview to Al Jazeera, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan touched upon the issue of opening of regional communications, stating that the wording of the so-called corridor in this context is unacceptable for Armenia.
The reporter asked what is Armenia’s approach and position over the “corridor” that is supposed to connect Azerbaijan and Ankara by passing through the territory of Armenia, and the PM said: “You know the wording, the narrative of so-called corridor is unacceptable for us, and it is red line for us. Because in our region, according to the trilateral statement, which was mentioned in the beginning of our conversation, we have one corridor in our region, and this is Lachin corridor connecting Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia. But we have another point in our trilateral statement which is about the opening of communications, meaning, for example, railways, roads, etc. And we are ready to and we are discussing that actually, to open regional communications both for Armenia and Azerbaijan with the respect of sovereignty and the laws of our countries”.
Legendary Armenian filmmaker Artavazd Peleshyan’s “Nature” (La Nature) is set for its Yerevan premiere in Moscow Cinema on June 18, at 7pm.
“Nature”, which is Peleshyan’s first film in 27 years, had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival in September 2021.
The film was produced by the Fondation Cartier and ZKM Filminstitut with support from the Folk Arts Hub Foundation.
The film is made up of found footage sequences that cast humankind as a puny match for the great forces of nature, such as volcanic eruptions, roiling floods, hurricanes and tornados.
Entrance is free.
SCOTLAND have the chance to bounce back from World Cup heartbreak when their Nations League campaign kicks off.
Steve Clarke’s men were bitterly disappointing in Wednesday’s play-off semi-final defeat to Ukraine at Hampden.
Scotland’s gutted players at half time
Many of the dependable players failed to show up on the night as the wait to join the elite competition rolls on.
But they will have had a week to recover and recuperate ahead of League B, Group 1 getting under way against Armenia.
It’s the start of a quick triple header of international ties, with three games in six days.
Here’s all the info ahead of the group opener.
Scotland 4/9
Draw 16/5
Armenia 6/1
Odds correct from Paddy Power as of Friday, June 3.
Scotland boss Steve Clarke promised the gutted Tartan Army they’ll reach the next major tournament in Germany in two years.
Clarke said: “The first thing you have to do is suffer together.
“I’m suffering, the coaching staff is suffering and more than anybody, the players are suffering.
“We’ll have 24 hours our where we’ll feel sorry for ourselves.
“Then we’ll get back on the horse and go again.
“What we shouldn’t forget is the progress we’ve made over the last three years.
“We came into this game in really good shape but it just wasn’t our night.
“But I am convinced there is optimism for the future.”
The spokesperson of European Council President Charles Michel on Tuesday issued a statement regarding Armenia and Azerbaijan. The full text of the statement is provided below.
“In the context of the past days’ tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, President Michel reiterated the EU’s commitment to deepen its cooperation with both countries to promote a South Caucasus that is secure, stable, peaceful and prosperous for the benefit of all people living in the region.
He welcomed the first historic meeting of both countries’ Border Commissions on 24 May and stressed the paramount importance of ensuring stability and security along the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan as delimitation will be pursued.
More broadly, President Michel stressed that for a sustainable normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it is important to address all outstanding issues at hand, including advancing discussions on the future peace treaty and addressing the root causes of conflict. In President Michel’s opinion, all core issues that had led to the first Nagorno-Karabakh war as well as to the renewed hostilities in 2020 will need to be addressed by all stakeholders to create conditions for lasting and equitable peace.
As with any legacy of conflict – terminology is particularly sensitive in this context. President Michel’s statement on outcomes of the leaders meeting on 22 May should not be interpreted as favouring a pre-determined outcome of discussions either way. What ultimately matters most is that all issues are comprehensively addressed; this includes rights and security of all populations.
Connectivity was specifically discussed in Brussels on 22 May to advance opportunities for unblocking the region. In this context, both parties confirmed there were no extraterritorial claims with regard to future transport infrastructure. Speculation to the contrary is regrettable.
Finally, President Michel stressed the need to prepare populations for peace and the paramount role public rhetoric plays in this regard. He welcomed Yerevan and Baku’s leadership and stated intentions to engage in good faith in ensuring a conducive atmosphere for the continuation of the talks and expressed the EU’s readiness to step up its support to confidence building measures.
EU Special Representative Klaar will be traveling to the region in the next days to follow up on all aspects under discussion.”
David Perdue, a former Georgia Senator who unsuccessfully sought to block the Senate’s 2019 unanimous passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, has been defeated in his bid to serve as Georgia Governor.
Former US President Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican Party suffered a slip after his handpicked candidate for Georgia governor was trounced at the polls.
Mr Trump recruited David Perdue, an ex-senator, to challenge incumbent Brian Kemp in the Republican primaries.
Mr Kemp had rejected Mr Trump’s pleas to overturn the 2020 Georgia election results.
But as ballots were counted, Mr Perdue was so far behind that he was defeated before half the votes were in.
The primary was being closely watched as a test of Mr Trump’s hold over the Republican party, as voters decide who will be the party’s official candidate in the midterm elections in November.
The midterms will decide who controls the two chambers which make up Congress – the Senate and the House of Representatives – and fall halfway through President Joe Biden’s term in office.
Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has canceled a concert by Spanish-Armenian violinist Ara Malikian in Ankara on June 11 without specifying the reason amid outrage over local administrations’ bans on an increasing number of concerts across the country over the past two weeks, Turkish Minute reported.
More than a dozen events, including concerts and university music festivals, have been canceled by local administrations on various pretexts since mid-May in moves seen by many as attempts by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to interfere in people’s lifestyles and to try to force its Islamic values on the nation.
In one of the latest incidents, a concert by Malikian, which was to be held at the Presidential Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall on June 11 as part of the “Cultural Road Festival” organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, was canceled on Thursday, with the people who bought tickets for the event informed about the cancellation with a message specifying no reason, according to local media reports.
The ban came after Malikian was targeted by Turks on social media due to earlier remarks defining the mass killings of Armenians over a century ago as “genocide,” although Turkey categorically rejects the 1915-16 killings of more than a million Armenians as genocide.
The recent bans on concerts across Turkey have drawn criticism from musicians, actors, bar associations and human rights activists.
“I can’t accept the increasing number of concert and festival cancellations, and the discriminatory and hateful statements about people’s lifestyles, particularly concerning female musicians,” famous Turkish pop singer Mabel Matiz tweeted on Friday.
Prominent Turkish actor Genco Erkal also said, addressing the ruling AKP, that they had “come to the end of the road” if they started to ban concerts in an attempt to silence the artists with various excuses.
Erkal was implying that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his AKP would likely see a defeat in the general and presidential elections scheduled for 2023.
Public surveys show Erdoğan and his election ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), losing considerable public support.
Releasing a written statement on Friday, the İstanbul Bar Association said the cancellation of concerts and festivals was a violation of the constitution and aimed to “take away our right to live, our right to listen to the music we want and to attend the concerts of the artists we want … in short, our right to live freely and decide freely about our lives.”
The Diyarbakır Bar Association also issued a statement on the bans, saying that those responsible for the bans discussing the cancellations based on such differences as language, culture and lifestyle within the context of “national and moral values” would “undoubtedly deepen the social polarization.”
“It’s not possible to accept in a democratic order those who exercise public power and are in a decision-making position going beyond the limits of the law to ignore the freedom of _expression_ of the artists and target them due to their … language, clothing and musical styles,” they added.
“We don’t accept these outdated restrictions and prohibitions that have become systematic. We won’t allow you to prevent artists, especially female artists, from engaging in their professions as they wish in this country!” the Women’s Platform for Equality (EŞİK) also said in a statement on Friday.
14:15,
YEREVAN, MAY 27, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan held a meeting with President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović and comprehensively discussed the bilateral and mutually beneficial Armenia-Montenegro relations and prospects of enhancing the ties.
“The opportunities for deepening bilateral economic cooperation and increasing trade turnover volumes was specially addressed,” President Khachaturyan said at a joint press conference after the meeting.
He added that the big potential in tourism and IT cooperation was discussed, as well as prospects of partnership in industry, healthcare and renewable energy.
“I am glad to note that the delegation of Montenegro includes the Mayor of Podgorica. Yerevan and Podgorcia signed a cooperation agreement back in 1978, and we agreed with President Đukanović to assist the city authorities of the two capitals to boost cooperation,” Khachaturyan said.
President Khachaturyan also discussed Armenia’s efforts for establishing sustainable peace in the region.
“I am happy to note the similarity of our views over bilateral, international and regional issues. The need for immediate repatriation of the Armenian prisoners of war and solution of urgent humanitarian issues was specially underscored, including the need to preserve the Armenian cultural monuments under Azerbaijani control,” the Armenian President said.
Dr. Arman Tatoyan
YEREVAN (AUA Newsroom)—The American University of Armenia announced the appointment of Dr. Arman Tatoyan as full time professor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, effective July 2022.
Having joined AUA in 2011 as an adjunct lecturer, he has taught courses on human rights and international criminal law, and has supervised master’s papers of students in the AUA Master of Laws (LL.M.) program. Starting in the 2022-23 academic year, Dr. Tatoyan will be teaching new courses in addition to his current ones.
Dr. Tatoyan has served as the human rights defender of the Republic of Armenia (RA) and head of the National Preventive Mechanism (2016 to 2022) elected by the RA National Assembly. He has also served as an ad hoc judge in the European Court of Human Rights (2016 to 2019). His first mandate for the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), was as member in respect of Armenia in 2011 to 2013. He was re-elected to the CPT in 2019.
Dr. Tatoyan holds an LL.M. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and is the recipient of the Distinguished Member Award of the LL.M. class of 2013. Prior to receiving his Ph.D. from the Yerevan State University (YSU) Faculty of Law, he completed the Wharton Business School Executive Education Program in Business and Law at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds an academic rank of docent.
Dr. Tatoyan has served as RA deputy minister of justice (2013-2016) and as deputy representative (deputy agent) of Armenia in the European Court of Human Rights (2013 to 2016). He has extensive professional experience in the RA Constitutional Court and Cassation Court, as well as in civil society and international organizations, including the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe (CoE), and the United States Agency for International Development.
On the occasion of his new appointment, Dr. Tatoyan noted, “AUA’s vibrant community is linked to a record of scholarly and professional achievements in all disciplines. My primary goal at AUA is to teach legal knowledge, legal reasoning, and legal thinking to create models for the shaping and further development of human rights and legal systems through effective solutions and overcoming challenges. Knowledge-based analytical probing is prevalent in teaching as a foundation for a democratic and rule-of-law-based state”.
In turn, LL.M. Program Chair, Assistant Professor Adelaida Baghdasaryan remarked, “I am excited for the extensive opportunity Dr. Tatoyan’s appointment affords our students to learn volumes of knowledge and professionalism from Dr. Tatoyan. Knowing him personally and professionally, I could not be more proud and happy for our students and the program.”
Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.