Author: Emma Nadirian

Turkey has blocked a high-level German delegation from visiting troops at an airbase taking part in the US-led mission against “Islamic State.” The spat appears to be over Germany’s Armenia genocide resolution, reports. 

Turkey has denied permission for a senior German defense official and several members of parliament to visit Incirlik airbase in July, a spokesperson from the German defense ministry said Wednesday, as tensions mount between the NATO allies.

Germany has about 250 troops, six Tornado reconnaissance planes and a refueling aircraft at the airbase in southern Turkey as part of the international coalition fighting the so-called “Islamic State” in Syria.

Ralf Brauksiepe, the undersecretary for defense, planned to visit German troops in July with a parliamentary delegation, but has so far been blocked due to tensions between Berlin and Ankara over a Bundestag resolution earlier this month calling the 1915 massacre of Armenians a genocide.

“The Turkish authorities at the amoment are not approving the travel plans,” a German defense ministry spokesperson said, confirming a report in news magazine “Der Spiegel.”

“There is no written statement on the reason,” he said, adding the delegation still hoped to visit.

“Der Spiegel” reported that permission was denied in retaliation for the Armenian genocide vote.

Ties between Turkey and Germany were already strained before the genocide vote, in particular over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on the press and human rights abuses tied to ongoing military operations against Kurdish rebels.

Lawmakers who took a trip secretly funded by the government of Azerbaijan turned over jade earrings, tea sets, silk scarves, woven rugs and other gifts to the government after a watchdog report called the trip improper, reports.

The list of gifts returned to the General Services Administration (GSA), which was obtained by The Hill through a Freedom of Information Act request, fills in more details about the trip to a 2013 conference in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku.

In all, nine current member of Congress and 32 staff members attended the conference, each receiving thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts, according to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). Some of the lawmakers also went to Turkey after the conference in Baku and received additional gifts on that stop.

The OCE report on the trip was submitted to the House Ethics Committee on May 8, 2015, but was leaked to The Washington Post, which revealed the details of the report days later.

The watchdog said Texas-based nonprofits filed false statements saying they were paying for the trip, when, in reality, the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic, known as Socar, helped fund the conference and trips by funneling $750,000 to the nonprofit corporations.

Photo: Getty Images

At least 36 people have been arrested in Lille following clashes between French police and football fans at the Euro 2016 tournament, the BBC reports.

French police said the arrests had been made throughout Wednesday – adding that 16 people had been hospitalised.

On Wednesday night, riot police charged at hundreds of England football fans as flares and bangers were set off.

The BBC’s James Reevell said tear gas had been used by riot police and it was mostly England fans involved.

Earlier, some English and Russian supporters had been detained after scuffles.

The delegation headed by Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan has left for Moscow today to participate in a regular sitting of the CIS Council of Defense Ministers.

In her first public address as will discuss how grassroots initiatives in conflict-afflicted communities are influencing humanitarian engagement and shifting the rules of engagement, the official website of the Aurora Prize reports.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic issued the following statement today:

We commend the meeting of Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan held on May 16 in Vienna with participation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Secretary of State of the United States and the Minister of State for European Affairs of France, and support the agreement reached at the meeting to finalize the OSCE investigative mechanism, to expand the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in Office, as well as to continue the exchange of data on missing persons under the auspices of the ICRC.

We also share the position of co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, excluding any possibility of a military solution to the conflict and insisting on the importance of respecting the ceasefire agreements of 1994 and 1995.

These agreements that put an end to large-scale hostilities and thus created the opportunity for finding a peaceful settlement to the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, have been achieved thanks to full participation of all three parties – Azerbaijan, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and Armenia, in the negotiations. The logic of the settlement process requires the restoration of negotiations on finding a final solution to the conflict in that very trilateral format.

In an article published by gives insight into the life of Armenia’s capital Yerevan.

Authored by Liana Aghajanian, the article notes that Yerevan is one of the easiest places in the world to meet people and make connections. “It’s a small town in many ways, and Armenians are extremely hospitable by nature, so the degrees of separation are more like two instead of six. It often takes a just few minutes at a bar for strangers to become friends and the endless drinking toasts to commence.”

Tumo Centre for Creative Technologies is described the best venue in the Armenian capital. ”

slick, modern space with 450 computer workstations and technology equipped labs, the centre hosts thousands of teenagers and gives them the opportunity to acquire skills in design, robotics, animation, film, web development and photography.

The centre, which does not charge membership fees, has opened locations in other resource-deprived Armenian cities still reeling from fall of the Soviet Union, and has recently teamed up with the Smithsonian to develop cultural tourism in the country.”

Karen Demirchyan Sports and Music Complex (also known as the Hamalir in Armenian) opened in 1983 is described as one of the architectural jewel of Yerevan.

Located on Mashtots Avenue, the city’s central lifeline, the Blue Mosque is an unassuming oasis that both visitors and residents can easily miss. The 18th-century Shia mosque saw services stop during the Soviet era, but after Armenia’s independence the mosque was renovated with funding from the Iranian government. It features intricate tiling work and has a central prayer hall, library and photo gallery, and offers Persian-language courses. Its manicured courtyard provides a peaceful escape from the noisy Yerevan traffic. As the only active mosque left in Armenia, it now serves as a hub for a growing number of Iranian residents and tourists.

The article also refers to renewed fighting on the border between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian Genocide.

Horizon Weekly – Members of the Armenian Youth Federation of Canada gathered in Ottawa on April 23 prior to the official commemoration day of the 101st Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide to raise awareness about the cause.

Earlier the day, more than 100 activists gathered at the busiest intersections of Canada’s capital, distributing over 2,000 informative fliers about the Genocide and the Turkish government’s ongoing policy of denial.

At 6:00 PM, the activists, tied to each other with rope, depicting a typical deportation march, marched down Sussex Dr. while reading historic accounts of the Genocide. The march concluded at the the CF Rideau Centre, where the participants staged a mass die-in to draw the public’s attention, who were provided with further information.

Thousands of Canadians will gather on Sunday, April 24th at the Turkish Embassy to protest against the Turkish government.

Armenia’s Gor Minasyan won a silver medal in the super heavyweight class at the European Weightlifting Championships under way in Norway.

He lifted 205 kg in the snatch and 237 kg in the clean & jerk.

Photo: AFP

Italian researchers say they have identified 35 living people who are related to Leonardo da Vinci, using genealogical records, the BBC reports.

They include the acclaimed film director Franco Zeffirelli.

The Renaissance polymath was born in the Tuscan town of Vinci in 1452.

He never married and left no direct descendants, so historians Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato sought to find those who are descended from his siblings.

Leonardo’s remains were lost in the turmoil of the 16th Century, so DNA research was not used in their work to construct a family tree, which began in 1973.

Most of those identified are still living in Tuscany, reports say.

But, as La Stampa reports (in Italian), a connection to Leonardo da Vinci may not come as a surprise to Franco Zeffirelli. The director made reference to a family connection when he was presented with a Leonardo Prize by the Italian president in 2007, the newspaper says.