Author: Jalatian Sonya

Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan received today the delegation led by Ambassador Herbert Salber, EU’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia. Head of the EU Delegation in Armenia Piotr Switalski was present at the meeting.

The Armenian Defense Minister briefed the EU official on the recent developments at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the line of contact between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan.

Minister Sargsyan emphasized the importance of targeted statements by the international community, including the EU, as well as the implementation of investigation mechanisms as important guarantees of efficiency of negotiations.

Herbert Salber noted, in turn, that the EU accepts the leading role of the OSCE Minsk Group in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and is ready to contribute to the intensification of negotiations in that format.

Commission has been set up to implement the project of construction of solar battery stations approved by the government late last year, press service of the Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources informs.

The commission comprises representatives from the Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Central Bank and the State Services Regulatory Commission.

The commission is tasked with presenting proposals on the construction of solar batteries of commercial scale.

According to the investment program approved by the government, solar plants with the capacity of up to 110 MW are expected to be built in six locations in Armenia. The first plant with the capacity of 55 MW will be built in Masrik, Gegharkunik province.

Manchester United star Henrikh Mkhitaryan has sent a message of support to former club Borussia Dortmund.

“I was deeply shocked by the explosions last night in Dortmund, a city that has a very special place in my heart,” Mkhitaryan said in a Facebook post.

“I want to send my support to Borussia Dortmund, the fans and I also wish a speedy recovery to Marc Bartra,” he added.

An explosion has hit a bus carrying the Borussia Dortmund football team to a Champions League match yesterday.

Defender Marc Bartra fractured his wrist in the incident, which led to Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg being postponed.

His Holiness Aram I asks the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to declare it has jurisdiction over the Armenian Church’s claim against Turkey for the return of its historical Seat in Sis.

The U.S. Embassy in Armenia has issued the following statement on Armenian elections:

The U. S. Embassy congratulates the people of Armenia on their April 2 parliamentary election, following a period of widespread competition among various parties and blocs in an environment that allowed all viewpoints access to the media.  Election day was generally calm and orderly across Armenia and voters were able to freely exercise their right to vote. The U.S. Embassy concurs with the preliminary conclusions of  the OSCE’s Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Mission which assessed elections to have been well administered and fundamental freedoms generally respected, while noting the elections “were tainted by credible information about vote-buying” and pressure on voters.

We urge the Armenian government, political parties, and civil society to work together to address these concerns through existing or new legal and enforcement mechanisms.

For 25 years, the United States has been committed to supporting Armenia as it seeks to develop its democratic processes and institutions. During this election, we were proud to partner with the Armenian government, opposition political parties, and civil society – as well as with the European Union, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations Development Program – in implementing new voter identification technology.  With the help of this new technology, procedures within polling stations on April 2 were generally administered without major incident and within guidelines set forth by Armenian electoral laws.

The United States will continue to monitor and analyze reports from international and domestic election observers, as well as the adjudication of election grievances during the post-election period.

Now that the election results are known, we encourage all parties – the government, the opposition, and civil society – to continue engaging in peaceful debate and discussion.

The European Ombudsman Institute (EOI) has issued a statement on the arrest and extradition of Alexander Lapshin. The statement reads:

“It is a matter of deep concern that  journalist and blogger Alexander Lapshin was arrested and then extradited.

The described situation tends to turn to an unacceptable situation violating freedom of expression and media.

Considering the fact that visits of civil society representatives and journalists to Nagorno-Karabakh have invaluable significance in humanitarian sense. Any action towards territorial limitation for fulfilling media representatives’ democratic mission is strongly condemnable. This decision on Alexander Lapshin’s extradition is a real threat to freedom of expression and media that lie at the heart of European values.

Apart from this, the extradition of Mr. Alexander Lapshin is very worrisome because of real possibility of his torture and inhuman treatment. Clear sign of ill-treatment against Mr. Lapshin is that his arrest and transfer into another region was widely covered in the media: handcuffed, apprehended by military in masks and with guns. Such treatment of a journalist is impermissible.

IThe European Ombudsman Institute welcomes the importance of reactions protecting freedom of speech in any territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions, already delivered by the OSCE special representative for freedom of the media, some EU officials and human rights organizations.

For preventing such kind of vicious practice it should be preliminary confronted with strong condemnation.”

President Serzh Sargsyan received today Christian Danielsson, Director General for Neighborhood & Enlargement Negotiations at the European Commission.

President Sargsyan hailed the intensiveness of Armenia-EU cooperation over the past two years.

The parties voiced hope that the negotiations on a new Framework Agreement would enter a final stage in the near future.

Christian Danielsson attached importance to President Sargsyan’s upcoming visit to Brussels, which, he said, will give new impetus to the development of cooperation.

Among the important achievements of Armenia-EU cooperation, President Sargsyan attached importance to the adoption of the mandate that will allow the Commission to start negotiations on a comprehensive air transport agreement with Armenia.

He pledged the willingness to further promote the cooperation in the fields of reform implementation, freedom of movement, good governance, democracy, human rights and other spheres of reciprocal interest.

The parties exchanged views on a number of regional issues and challenges.

On January 24, Armenia’s Ambassador to the US Grigor Hovhannnisyan received Ambassador Richard Hoagland, the newly appointed US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group for Nagorno Karabakh.

Mr. Hoagland will be joining the Russian and French co-chairs of the Minsk Group over the next five month period.

“Ambassador Hoagland is a senior diplomat who brings into the Minsk process years of experience and in-depth knowledge of the CIS and Central Asian regions,” the Armenian Embassy said in a Facebook post.

AP Photo/Hassan Ammar

Russia, Iran, Turkey agree to set up ceasefire monitoring mechanism in Syria, says a joint statement made by the three countries following talks on the Syrian settlement in Astana. The document was read out by Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov. Russia, Iran and Turkey see Astana as efficient platform for the Syrian talks, TASS reports.

Russia, Iran and Turkey are committed to the principles of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and believe that there is no military solution to the conflict in that country, the statement said.

“Russia, Turkey and Iran reaffirm their commitment to the sovereignty, independence and unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic,” he said. “They express their conviction that there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict and that it can only be solved through a political process based on the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 2254.”