Author: Jagharian Tania

Photo: AP

 

Turkish officials say that nearly 8,000 police officers have been suspended, reportedly on suspicion of having links to the failed coup attempt at the weekend, the BBC reports.

Some 6,000 members of the judiciary and military, including generals, have been detained in connection with the coup.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to purge state bodies of the “virus” that caused the revolt.

The EU’s foreign policy chief says the rule of law in Turkey needs protection.

The Turkish government claims cleric Fethullah Gulen was behind the plot.

The Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire 26 times at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night.

The rival fired more than 450 shots from weapons of different calibers in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep the situation under control and confidently continue with their military duty.

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria in Armenia Georgi Karastamatov who is concluding his diplomatic mission in our country, President’s Press Office reports.

President Sargsyan thanked Ambassador Karastamatov for his personal contribution to the consistent development of the Armenian-Bulgarian relations and underscored that in recent years the political dialogue between the two countries has noticeably intensified constituting a solid base and guarantee for the development and strengthening of the interstate relations in all areas.

Serzh Sargsyan expressed hope that the next ambassador of Bulgaria will also spare no effort to deepen the relations between Armenia and Bulgaria and to develop cooperation in a number of mutually beneficial areas. The President of Armenia wished all the best to Georgi Karastamanov in his future endeavors.

Ambassador Karastamatov thanked the President of Armenia for the high assessment of his work and for the assistance provided to him throughout his diplomatic tenure in our country. He assured that he was leaving Armenia with warm feelings and good impressions and would forever remain a friend of the Armenian people.

A news agency linked to so-called Islamic State has confirmed the death of key leader Omar Shishani, whom the US said it killed in March, the BBC reports.

The Amaq news agency said Shishani was killed in combat in the town of Shirqat, south of Mosul in Iraq.

The Pentagon said in March he had died from injuries sustained in a US air strike in north-eastern Syria.

Shishani’s real name was Tarkhan Batirashvili but he was also known as Omar the Chechen.

The red-bearded jihadist was said to be a close military adviser to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The confirmation came on the Amaq website, which IS regularly uses to issue news and which had denied the Pentagon’s claims in March.

Amaq said he died trying to repel forces campaigning to retake the city of Mosul.

President Serzh Sargsyan had today a phone conversation with the US Secretary of State John Kerry. The call was initiated by the American side.

The interlocutors spoke about the recent developments in the NK peace negotiations mediated by Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, particularly to the process of implementation of the agreements reached in Vienna and Saint Petersburg.

Pioneering rock guitarist Scotty Moore, who was a member of Elvis Presley’s original band, has died aged 84, the BBC reports.

He died in Nashville on Tuesday after several months of poor health.

He is credited with helping Elvis shape his music that came to be called rock ‘n’ roll, and inspired generations of guitarists.

Moore was the last survivor of Elvis’s original band which included Presley, bassist Bill Black and producer Sam Phillips.

As part of The Blue Moon Boys Moore backed Presley on many of his legendary songs including Heartbreak Hotel, Blue Suede Shoes and Jailhouse Rock.

During today’s Ecumenical Encounter at Yerevan’s Republic Square Pope Francis received the model of Noah’s Ark as a gift.

Hs Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians and His Holiness Pope Francis blessed the soil and water brought  from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Iran and Turkey. The soil and water were later poured in to the Noah’s  Ark.

Authored by American Armenian designer Michael Aram, the  model of Noah’s Ark will be taken to Vatican.

Armenia has become an “ark of salvation” for thousands of families from the Iraq and Syria. Armenia has provided refuge to about 20 thousand refugees from Syria, mostly the descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors.

On 17 June Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received minister of education and science of the Republic of Armenia Levon Mkrtchyan and delegation headed by him.

The meeting addressed issues related to the development of education and science in Artsakh and correlation between the two Armenian states in this field.

Artsakh Republic minister of education, science and sport Slava Asryan and other officials partook in the meeting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host talks in St Petersburg on June 20 between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which flared up earlier this year, the Kremlin said.

By organising the meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Russia is “continuing its mission as a mediator” in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

He emphasized that Russia “will take active steps to assist the sides in the settlement of the conflict.” Ushakov reminded that Moscow already played an important role in introducing a ceasefire in the conflict zone at the start of April 2016.

Putin has already held several telephone conversations with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, visits of defense ministers and foreign ministers have took place, and Chiefs of General Staffs of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been invited to Moscow, the presidential aide reminded. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has also visited Yerevan and Baku at the start of April, he added.

“We will now continue our mediatory mission, of course, in full cooperation with other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, on the basis of principles proposed in accordance with the statements of the presidents of Russia, United States and France from 2009 to 2013. We will see what results this three-party contact will lead to. Our side will hold the most interested and active dialogue,” Ushakov concluded.

Sargsyan and Aliyev last met in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on May 16.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Russia has been handed a suspended disqualification from Euro 2016 over crowd disturbances at the game against England in Marseille, Sky News reports.

UEFA announced its decision as a group of Russian football fans faced being thrown out of France – and GoPro footage appeared to demonstrate that attacks on English supporters in Marseille before the match were well-planned.

UEFA also fined the Russian football federation €150,000 over violence inside the Stade Velodrome.

The identities of 29 fans were being checked at a hotel near the southern French port city, but authorities told AFP a decision had already been taken to move some of them to a holding centre at the border.

French police are checking to see if any of the Russians are on a list of supporters “considered a risk”, said Francois-Xavier Lauch, a top local official in the Alpes-Maritimes area.

The head of a Russian supporters’ group said a bus carrying fans on their way to Lille – where there are fears of further violence this week – was stopped near Cannes.