Author: Jagharian Tania

David McAllister: Closing of OSCE Office in Yerevan is the issue of OSCE and not EU

Jagharian Tania
news.am, Armenia
David McAllister: Closing of OSCE Office in Yerevan is the issue of OSCE and not EU
20:45, 25.05.2017

YEREVAN. – The European Union fully supports the work of the OSCE field offices, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) of the European Parliament, David McAllister, told journalists on Thursday.

To the question of Armenian News – NEWS.am reporter as to whether he considers destructive the police of Azerbaijan, which led to the closing of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, he noted that the closing of the OSCE Office in Yerevan is, of course, the issue of the OSCE and not EU. At the same time, he expressed regret over the impossibility to reach consensus on the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Office in Yerevan despite the efforts of Germany and then Austria.

According to him, the presence of the OSCE on the ground is an important tool for implementing the organization’s principles. EU fully supports the work of these offices, Mr McAllister said, adding that they presented their stance during the meeting with the representatives of international organizations Thursday morning.

According to the official statement of the OSCE, the Office in Yerevan will stop its activity on August 31. Armenia remained the only country in the South Caucasus region, where the OSCE office operated. In 2015, the OSCE Office was closed in Baku. The mandate of the OSCE Office in Georgia expired in December 2008.

The operation of the OSCE Office in Yerevan “hung in the air” due to the lack of consensus on extension of its mandate. Azerbaijan raised claims against the program related to demining trainings. 

ANKARA: Istanbul summit sees row over Nagorno-Karabakh

Jagharian Tania 
Hurriyet, Egypt
 Istanbul summit sees row over Nagorno-Karabakh
ISTANBUL
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on May 22 criticized Armenian Deputy
Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimiyan over his remarks largely focusing
on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Summit in Istanbul.
In his speech at the opening ceremony of the summit, Hovakimiyan gave
a lengthy response to Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker Ogdal Asadov, who
had stated that one of the member countries “has still not given up
its poisonous ideology,” referring to Armenia.
“The Organization of the Black Sea Economic Summit is not a place for
political accusations,” Hovakimiyan said.
However, Erdoğan, who was chairing the session, slammed Hovakimiyan
for himself giving a “completely political speech.”
“No representative here made any [political] accusation or evaluation.
But you took up your entire speech with a political evaluation,” he
said.
Erdoğan also noted that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue was within the
responsibility of the OSCE Minsk Group, pointing to Russian Prime
Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
“There is a great benefit to make this issue end,” he said.
The decades-long dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh has its immediate roots
in a 1990s war that left some 30,000 people dead after ethnic-Armenian
separatists backed by Yerevan seized territory from Azerbaijan.
Despite years of internationally-mediated negotiations since the 1994
ceasefire, the two sides have not yet signed a final peace deal.
Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but the
ethnic-Azeri community - which before the war made up around 25
percent of the population - was entirely driven out. Almost all of the
current 145,000 population of the enclave is Armenian and the region
has declared itself the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
May/22/2017

BAKU: Armenians planning another anti-Azerbaijani provocation in Russia

Jagharian Tania
APA, Azerbaijan

Armenians are planning to commit another anti-Azerbaijani provocation in the Russian city of Kursk on May 28 – the Republic Day of Azerbaijan.

 

The Association of Armenian Youth of Kursk is planning to organize a provocative march “25th anniversary of the liberation of Shusha” and a “festive concert” in the city on that day, APA has learned.  

 

The Armenian youth stated that they have already agreed on the issue with official bodies.

 

Speaking to APA, the chairman of the Development and Renaissance Foundation of Azerbaijani Culture in Russia, Shamil Tagiyev, said that Azerbaijani youth are aware of the issue and sent letters of protest to Russia’s Foreign Ministry and other bodies.  

 

“Everyone in Russia knows that Shusha is a historical land of Azerbaijan. The distortion of this fact in the form of a march, in particular at a time when Armenians continue the occupation of Shusha city, is a serious provocation,” noted Tagiyev.  

 

The Azerbaijani city of Shusha was occupied by Armenia’s armed forces on May 8, 1992.  

‘Lavrov means – if ISIS attacks Armenia, base is ready’

Jagharian Tania
Aravot, Armenia

”Lavrov’s words are fit with the facts written in the military operations. And the operation is that in the case of aggression against The RA base is ready. It cannot be used for other purposes than what is written in the operations”, during the press conference said the RA former Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan referring to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent statement that the Russian military base in Armenia can also be used against the ISIS.

He said that Lavrov means that if there be an attack on the RA by the ISIS, yes, the base is ready. ”The military base cannot be used unilaterally; the latter is enshrined in the contract”, noted he.

Luiza SUKIASYAN

California Legislature commemorates 102nd anniversary of Armenian Genocide

Jagharian Tania

Members of the California Legislature commemorated the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 17, even as the United States of America continues to turn a blind eye to the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians, Massis Post reports.

“We commemorate the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide to remember the 1.5 million souls lost and to celebrate the Armenian’s contributions to California,” stated Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian. “Through vigilance and education we can banish genocide to our history books.”

“Armenian-Americans have not only survived, they have thrived and enriched the fabric of our communities. The genocide is about real people and real stories. For me it is about my wife Vanessa and her family, people I love and who are Armenian-Americans,” said Senator Scott Wilk. “By remembering the horror of the genocide we are taking steps to ensure it never happens again,” he said.

Karabakh conflict settlement was high on OSCE agenda in 2016

Jagharian Tania

The OSCE continued its engagement in the negotiation formats dedicated to the protracted conflicts in the South Caucasus and Moldova, the OSCE said in its 2016 report.

“Despite a deadly spike in the confrontation over Nagorno-Karabakh and limited progress overall, we persist in striving towards peaceful and durable settlements to these conflicts,” the organization said.

“Conflicts in the OSCE area continued to dominate the OSCE agenda in 2016. The renewed escalation of violence in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in spring 2016 necessitated intensified crisis management. The German Chairmanship invested considerable efforts in addressing these and other conflicts with the aim of strengthening OSCE formats for conflict resolution and improving the living conditions of people affected by these conflicts,” the report reads.

“With regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Chairmanship reacted swiftly after the escalation of hostilities at the line of contact in April 2016, initiating a special meeting of the Permanent Council (PC) and advocating the implementation of agreements reached at the presidential level in Vienna and St. Petersburg concerning the expansion of the Office of the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, and the establishment of an investigative mechanism. The Chairmanship called for the resumption of a political negotiation process to settle the conflict,” the OSCE said.

The Chairperson also called a special meeting following the escalation of violence in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

Impunity for Maragha atrocities encouraged new crimes – Shavarsh Kocharyan

Jagharian Tania

Today marks one of the darkest, yet not widely known pages of the Nagorno-Karabakh war. Twenty-five years ago Azerbaijan committed gross violation of the International Humanitarian Law.

“On April 10, 1992, the Azerbaijani “OMON” – Special Purpose Mobility Unit, destroyed and set on fire Maragha village of the self-determined Artsakh Republic, burned alive and tortured to death through inhuman cruelty its peaceful population. A part of the villagers was taken as a hostage – the fate of some of them is still unknown,” Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said in comments on 25th anniversary of Maragha tragedy.

“In several hours of Azerbaijan’s control over the village its inhabitants went through the atrocities and barbarism, which fully meet all the criteria of a crime against humanity,” he said.

“The impunity for atrocities committed in Maragha encouraged the continuation of perpetration of new crimes in an atmosphere of complete permissiveness. The barbarism committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces during last April aggression against Artsakh undeniably prove that,” Shavarsh Kocharyan stated.

Armenia’s President off to France for official visit

Jagharian Tania

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan has left for France for an official visit.

In the framework of the visit, the President of Armenia will meet with the highest leadership of France – President François Hollande, President of Senate Gérard Larcher, President of the National Assembly Claude Bartolone, Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, and with the Secretary General of the International Organization of Francophonie Michaëlle Jean.

Based on the results of the high-level Armenian-French negotiations, the parties will sign a numer of documents aimed at the strengthening and deepening of the bilateral relations and cooperation.

In Paris, the President of Armenia will meet with the representatives of the French business circles and representatives of the Armenian communities of Europe.

President Sargsyan will also visit Lyon where he will meet with the Mayor of the city Gérard Collomb.

German Constitutional Court rejects complaint against Armenian Genocide Resolution

Jagharian Tania

The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany rejected an appeal to annul the bill on recognition of the Armenian Genocide adopted by the Bundestag on June 2, 2016.

The German Constitutional Court did not accept the appeal, stating that there was insufficient evidence that recognition of the Armenian Genocide violated the law, Ermenihaber.am reports, quoting the Turkish Dogan agency.

Ramazan Akbas, a lawyer from Turkey who demanded the cancellation of the decision of the Bundestag, has announced an appeal will be filed to the European Court of Human Rights.

Earlier this week a Cologne court (Alliance of German Democrats.

The Alliance of German Democrats was founded o by entrepreneur Remzi Aru, lawyer Ramazan Akbas and Halil Ertem to prevent the adoption of the resolution on the Armenian genocide by the German Bundestag.