Author: Greg Madatian

French presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron has marked the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in a brief ceremony in Paris, Euronews reports.

Macron laid a wreath and observed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims.

If elected president of France in the second round of the country’s election, Macron has vowed to continue the fight for full international recognition of the atrocity as a genocide.

Speaking to Nouvelles d’Armenie before the Sunday vote  Emmanuel Macron pledged to continue the tradition to commemorate the Armenian Genocide if elected.

“The date of 24 April is a strong symbol: it commemorates the murder of 600 Armenian intellectuals on 24 April 1915 in Constantinople and the beginning of the first genocide. This is an important moment for the duty of memory and for the friendship between France and Armenia. I intend to continue this tradition by participating in the commemorations. I am also in favor of a day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide being included in our calendar,” Macron said.

“In France, the penalization of the denial of the genocide could not be obtained and the decision of the Constitutional Council provoked much misunderstanding. I am convinced that we must continue to work in this direction. Law and memory cannot be incompatible,” the presidential candidate said.

Macron, a centrist with pro-business, pro-European views, will face far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the May 7 runoff of the presidential election.

On April 9, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians,  sent a letter to His Holiness Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark and leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria; following the Palm Sunday attack on the St George’s Coptic Church in Tanta, Egypt, and the St Mark’s Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt in which many innocent people have been killed and wounded.

On behalf of the Supreme Spiritual Council and the faithful of the Armenian Church, and His Holiness expressed his condolences to the Coptic Orthodox Church and her faithful.

“At this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and with you,” said the Pontiff, condemning all acts of terrorism.

The Catholicos of All Armenians ask Almighty God to grant to the souls of the victims heavenly mansions, and prayed for comfort and consolation for their families and all the faithful of the Sister Church.

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Special Coordinator and Head of the OSCE short-term observer mission Ignacio Sanchez Amor and his delegation who have arrived to Armenia to carry out the monitoring of the parliamentary elections which will take place on April 2, President’s Press Office reports.

The President  stressed the importance and highly valued the role of the OSCE observer missions in the electoral processes in Armenia, including the ongoing improvement and development of the electoral system, as well as the assistance provided to Armenia in the last twenty-five years.

Serzh Sargsyan noted with satisfaction that for monitoring the April 2 elections to the National Assembly, the PACE and OSCE/ODIHR have come up as a unified mission which is led by the skillful political figure, Mr. Ignacio Sanchez Amor who is well known for his principled position and experience.

Underscoring that the forthcoming elections are an important milestone on the road towards calling to life the vision of good governance in Armenia, the President noted that the Armenian authorities stress the importance of enhancing and enforcing the trust of the voters towards the electoral process. Towards this end, after wide political and public discussions and as a result of a consensus adopted were and enshrined in the new Electoral Code provisions dealing with the mechanisms called to secure the validity of the electoral processes. According to the President, the large-scale works conducted in this area allow to argue that all requisites are in place – political will, legislative regulations, technical means – to conduct good elections in Armenia, and the authorities in the framework of their jurisdiction will do the best to make it a reality.

Noting that election naturally imply competition, and as in any competition in elections too many of the competitors to get a prize may give in to various, including unacceptable methods. The President in this context stressed that it is critical for all observer missions to manifest a balanced, unbiased approach and form their assessment based on their own observations and credible data. The President of Armenia noted that the Armenian authorities have demonstrated readiness to assist comprehensively to all observer missions in the implementation of their monitoring, including on the election day and after that. The Special Coordinator and Head of the OSCE short-term observer mission Ignacio Sanchez Amor assured that there will be no deviation in their professional performance and that the OSCE/ODIHR, as the most experienced in Europe election monitoring organization which has been over a month in Armenia and has already carried out large-scale activities on the expert assessment of the situation, will continue to fulfill its mission with high professionalism and meticulousness.

The Head of the observation mission noted with satisfaction that the government of Armenia has engaged in the observation mission a large number, over 30 thousand representatives of local public organizations which also include multiple foreign observers. He also highlighted that it is important that all missions approach their work responsibly, with high professionalism.

Ignacio Sanchez Amor also welcomed and encouraged reforms carried out in Armenia.

President Serzh Sargsyan attended today the general meeting of the National Academy of Sciences  dedicated to the main results of the Academy’s 2016 scientific and administrative activities. The President of the Academy, academician Radik Martirosyan presented the most important results of the scientific works of the Academy’s structures and applied developments, spoke about activities in the area of international cooperation, training of scientific cadre, programs of the Academy aimed at the enhancement of scientific research and some other activities of the Academy in 2016.

Noting that currently the country has entered the pre-election period, the President of Armenia said that he would refrain from making a statement and expressed readiness to respond to the questions raised by the participants of the meeting and listened to their proposals.

Today, President Sargsyan also sent a congratulatory message to the academician of the National Academy of Sciences, professor Sergey Hambardzumyan on his 95th birth anniversary and on the occasion of the impressive jubilee wished him success, strength and tenacity to carry on with his patriotic activities.

The Secretary General thanked Armenia for its contributions to NATO’s missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo. He stressed that the Alliance is committed to working with Armenia and other partners.

“Together, we are developing a new Individual Partnership Action Plan, tailored to your needs and requirements,” said Mr. Stoltenberg.

He added that there are opportunities for further cooperation on interoperability, defence reform and defence education. The Secretary General praised Armenia for its participation in NATO’s Building Integrity Programme to counter corruption in the armed forces, and its progress on implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325 to promote the role of women in peace and security.

The Secretary General and President Sargsyan also discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Mr. Stoltenberg expressed concern over the continuing violence along the line of contact.

“It is important to avoid escalation, because there is no military solution to this conflict and its persistence is holding back the region,” he said. NATO encourages both Armenia and Azerbaijan to return to the negotiating table and work toward a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored with three minutes remaining to give Manchester United a thrilling 3-2 victory over Southampton in the EFL Cup final,  Goal.com reports.

A dramatic contest at Wembley was settled when Ibrahimovic headed in Ander Herrera’s cross just as the match appeared destined to move into extra-time.

A controversial and thrilling match saw Southampton have Manolo Gabbiadini’s strike wrongly ruled out for offside before Ibrahimovic struck with an impressive free-kick at the other end.

Jesse Lingard got the second, finding the bottom-right corner after a neat team move to net on his third consecutive Wembley appearance for United, before Gabbiadini got a goal that did count in first-half stoppage time.

Gabbiadini made it five goals in three Saints matches with a magnificent finish early in the second half, but Ibrahimovic had the last word with his 26th goal of the season.

United have now won the tournament on five occasions, a record bettered only by Liverpool.

Mourinho claims the first major trophy of his United reign and his fourth overall victory in the competition, tying the record jointly held by Brian Clough and Alex Ferguson.