The Azerbaijani side kept violating the agreement on ceasefire all along the line of contact with Karabakh forces last night, the NKR Defense Ministry informs.
The rival used artillery weapons of various caliber, also as 60, 82 and 120 mm mortars, RPG-7, HHN-9 and HAN-17 grenade launchers.
The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep control of the situation at the frontline and confidently continue with their military duty.
Hundreds gathered at the Republic Square in Yerean to protest against Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Armenia.
The participant of the rally marched to the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and headed fo the Russian Embassy in Armenia.
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian continues to inform a number of his international counterparts and the heads of international organizations on the aggression of Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh.
On April 4-5 Edward Nalbandian had phone conversations with Foreign Minister of Germany, the OSCE Chairperson-in-office Frank-Walter Steinmeier, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of European Commission Federica Mogherini, Foreign minister of Belarus Vladimir Makei, Foreign Minister of Georgia Mikheil Janelidze, Foreign Minister of Litva Linas Linkevičius, Foreign Minister of Iran Javad Zarif, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Igor Popov, James Warlick and Pierre Andrieu. The current situation was extensively discussed with Michaëlle Jean, the Secretary General of the International Organization of La Francophonie.
Foreign Minister of Armenia briefed his interlocutors on the continuing large-scale offensive by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as introduced the consequences of missile attacks against civilian objects and peaceful population in Artsakh.
Minister Nalbandian emphasized that Azerbaijan disseminates propaganda disinformation in parallel to the military operations, in a futile attempt to justify its aggressive actions, targeting of civilian objects and peaceful population.
“On numerous occasions Armenia has warned that Azerbaijan intentionally takes the path of escalation of the situation and has an overt intention to use force. We have drawn the attention of the international community that in the absence of the practical measures to bring Baku to order, the aggressive stance of Azerbaijan is getting out of control and this is what we witness today. The urgent and definite steps of the international community are ever more imperative now to stabilize the situation, and to bring Azerbaijan back to the table of negotiations, as a side which has been rejecting to negotiate under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and has attempted to impose its maximalist approaches by its aggressive actions”, said the Foreign Minister of Armenia.
Edward Nalbandian’s interlocutors agreed that the use of force is inadmissible and that there is no alternative to the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. They deemed imperative to immediately cease the fire and resume the negotiations under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.
Russia is not accusing external forces, including Ankara, of tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday, TASS reports.
“We are not accusing any external forces and any external players of provoking the current outbreak of tensions (in Nagorno-Karabakh),” Lavrov said. “Nor do we accuse Ankara.”
“Of course, we have heard the (relevant) statements of the Turkish leadership, which are one-sided,” he went on to say. “However, in general, now it is important for our Turkish neighbors to set a course for stopping interference in the affairs of any countries, be it Iraq or Syria.” “There is plenty of evidence that Turkey, in spite of all appeals, pushes ahead with such interference and continues to support terrorism,” the Russian minister said.
“I don’t venture to judge what role Ankara played or did not play or continues to play with regard to Nagorno-Karabakh,” Lavrov said. “However, it would be appropriate for everyone, including Turkey and the Turkish people, to make sure that Ankara focuses on stopping the support of terrorism. I think that’s the idea I can safely express, and we will act in favor of this.”
According to the minister, the Russian side notes attempts to frustrate efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on Nagorno-Karabakh.
“We can say that there are attempts from those who are dissatisfied with the basic approaches to the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,” he said.
Lavrov has also stressed that there can be no military solution to the conflict and called on Baku and Yerevan to heed the calls for peace.
“Out stance was explained by the president, the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry,” he said. “Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and yours truly have contacted our counterparts. We expressed the most serious concern and confirmed the president’s message to the effect it is essential to terminate violations of the ceasefire regimen as soon as possible, without delay, and to avoid creating hindrances to the resumption of efforts to make transition to a peace settlement. We hope that these messages have been heard.”
“At least the two sides have declared that the necessary orders had been issued. There’ve been some reports today that excesses have not subsided yet,” Lavrov said. “We keep in touch with Baku and Yerevan to ensure the signals from Moscow, Washington and Paris should be heard at last.”
It was on March 15, 1921 that Armenian avenger Soghomon Tehlirian assassinated Talaat Pasha, one of the masterminds of the Armenian Genocide.
On April 2, Tehlirian’s 120th birth anniversary, representatives of the Armenian community will gather on Hardenbergstraße in Berlin, the place Talaat was assassinated, to hold an event in memory of Tehlirian
Tehlirian shadowed Talaat as he left his house on Hardenbergstraße on the morning of March 15, 1921. He crossed the street to view him from the opposite sidewalk, then crossed it once more to walk past him to confirm his identity. He then turned around and pointed his gun to shoot him in the nape of the neck.
Talaat was felled with a single 9mm parabellum round from a Luger P08 pistol. The assassination took place in broad daylight and led to Tehlirian’s immediate arrest by German police.
“I killed him, but I am not a murderer,” Tehlirian said of himself.
After a two-day trial Tehlirian was found not guilty by the German court, and freed. He eventually moved to the United States and lived out his years in San Francisco.
Asbarez – The Organization of Istanbul Armenians (OIA) has initiated a Commemorative Oratorio Concert to be presented in memory of the Martyred Armenian Hero Hrant Dink, with the active support and participation of a wide spectrum of leading pan-Armenian institutions and community organizations.
The “Hrant Dink Oratorio Organizing Committee” (HDOOC) is comprised of numerous local Pan Armenian organization representatives.
The special event, “Hrant Dink the Legacy” featuring the North American debut performance of the Oratorio will also mark the start of the week of commemorative activities on the occasion of the 101st Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide . The Oratorio will be presented on April 16, 2016, at 7:30 p.m., at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, a beautiful venue famous for its amazing acoustics. We are very excited to announce that Mrs. Rakel Dink will be our Guest of Honor at the performance.
Joining Mrs. Dink will be the Composer of the Oratorio, renowned musician Majak Toshigian. The lyricist is Berchuhi Berberian. Los Angeles is justifiably the first venue for this performance, outside Yerevan and Istanbul when it was performed in September 2015 and January 2016, respectively. Los Angeles, California, home to the largest presence of the Armenian Diaspora and where Hrant Dink delivered his last major speech to the Armenian people on October 5th, 2006 is clearly the natural host for this tribute to his legacy. This commemorative occasion will also serve as an occasion for solidarity for All Armenians who demand and await justice for the crime of Genocide and for its most recent victim, a Martyr who was the voice his people, who loved his ancient homeland and relentlessly fought for justice. United as one Nation we will all proclaim “We Are All Hrant Dink”.
On 23 March Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received foreign minister of the Republic of Armenia Edward Nalbandian, NKR President’s Press Office reports.
Several issues related to foreign policy and cooperation of the two Armenian states in this field were discussed during the meeting.
Artsakh Republic foreign minister Karen Mirzoyan partook at the meeting.
Pope Francis has awarded Armenian Ambassador to the Vatican Mikael Minsyan with a Knight’s Grand Cross Order of Pius IX, press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs.
At a solemn ceremony in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican, Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Substitute for General Affairs to the Secretary of State of the Holy See, handed the Order to Amb. Minasyan.
The Papal letter says Mikael Minasyan was awarded the pontifical title “as a proof of Our benevolence towards You.”
Apple Inc customers were targeted by hackers over the weekend in the first campaign against Macintosh computers using a pernicious type of software known as ransomware, researchers with Palo Alto Networks Inc told on Sunday.
Ransomware, one of the fastest-growing types of cyber threats, encrypts data on infected machines, then typically asks users to pay ransoms in hard-to-trace digital currencies to get an electronic key so they can retrieve their data.
Security experts estimate that ransoms total hundreds of millions of dollars a year from such cyber criminals, who typically target users of Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system.
Palo Alto Threat Intelligence Director Ryan Olson said the “KeRanger” malware, which appeared on Friday, was the first functioning ransomware attacking Apple’s Mac computers.
“This is the first one in the wild that is definitely functional, encrypts your files and seeks a ransom,” Olson said in a telephone interview.
Hackers infected Macs through a tainted copy of a popular program known as Transmission, which is used to transfer data through the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing network, Palo Alto said on a blog posted on Sunday afternoon.
When users downloaded version 2.90 of Transmission, which was released on Friday, their Macs were infected with the ransomware, the blog said.
An Apple representative said the company had taken steps over the weekend to prevent further infections by revoking a digital certificate that enabled the rogue software to install on Macs. The representative declined to provide other details.
Transmission responded by removing the malicious version of its software from its website, www.transmissionbt.com. On Sunday it released a version that its website said automatically removes the ransomware from infected Macs.
The website advised Transmission users to immediately install the new update, version 2.92, if they suspected they might be infected.
President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Head of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office in Yerevan Ambassador Andrey Sorokin who is concluding his mission in our country.
The President thanked Ambassador Sorokin for his active work throughout his tenure in office and noted with satisfaction that under his leadership the OSCE Office in Yerevan in recent years worked efficiently and implemented many programs in different areas.
“Please be assured that you leave in Yerevan not only your accomplishments but also people who highly value your work as well as you human qualities. I wish you success in your future endeavors and in personal life,” said President Sargsyan and expressed hope that the new head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan will display the same vigor and readiness for cooperation, further strengthening relations between Armenia and the OSCE Office in Yerevan.
Andrey Sorokin thanked the President of Armenia for warm words and good wishes as well as for the trust and efficient cooperation of the Armenian state bodies with the OSCE Office throughout his tenure in Yerevan. He noted proudly that thanks to the programs implemented in recent years, strong foundation and excellent prerequisites have been established for the future close cooperation between Armenia and OSCE Office in Yerevan and implementation of new programs in a number of areas.