New government staff to be formed by June 15
June 2, 2012 – 17:41 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – New government staff will be formed in Armenia by
June 15, 2012, Prime Minister said.
Dwelling on the government programs to be submitted to the parliament,
Tigran Sargsyan noted that they will be based on the election program
of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).
Asked as to Prosperous Armenia’s refusal to join the coalition, Prime
Minister Sargsyan said he is sorry about it.
Young member of Armenia’s Heritage Party criticizes its policy
news.am
June 02, 2012 | 14:24
YEREVAN. – Young member Daniel Ionesyan of Armenia’s opposition
Heritage Party expressed his complaint with regard to his own party,
during the latter’s special congress on Saturday, but his speech was
accepted with applause.
He noted that he conducted a Facebook voting as to who people would
like to see in Heritage’s Parliamentary Faction, and informed that the
voting results differ from the Party’s actual election list.
At the same time Ionesyan stated that it is very easy to blame the
authorities and the election bribe takers, and maintained that
Heritage members have their own faults, too.
`Let us see that we were guilty, too, and have made mistakes. Let us
see [them], so they will not repeat. The fact that we received as many
votes in these [parliamentary] elections as in the previous elections
bespeaks that we, with our erroneous actions, ruined our MPs’
laborious activities.
Let us see to it that the new Faction [of Heritage] would at least try
to work, in this disgraceful parliament, just like the previous
parliamentarians; that they may always be at the people’s side, that
they may always fight,’ Daniel Ionesyan stated.
Azerbaijan violates ceasefire 1,300 times in May
news.am
June 02, 2012 | 15:37
YEREVAN. – Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire, at the line of contact
with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, close to 1,300 times in the month
of May, Armenian MOD informs.
In addition, the OSCE conducted a monitoring on Thursday at the line
of contact between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But on the next day, an
Armenian villager was wounded at the site where Azerbaijani armed
forces had conducted monitoring a day earlier. Thereby Azerbaijan
showed yet again that it does not honor the cease-fire arrangements.
EU REP. SAYS WAR RHETORIC IN KARABAKH CONFLICT ZONE INADMISSIBLE
PanARMENIAN.Net
June 1, 2012 – 21:27 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus
and the Crisis in Georgia believes militaristic rhetoric and arms
race inadmissible.
Asked as to Azerbaijan’s constant breach of provisions of the Treaty on
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) and aggressive statements,
Ambassador Philippe Lefort noted the war rhetoric and arms race as
unacceptable, given the complexity of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
“EU is against the war, both accidental and planned, as it will become
a tragedy for the whole region,” he said.
PUTIN STANDS FIRM ON SYRIA CRISIS
ARMENPRESS
2 June, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has
resisted diplomatic pressure from Western nations to support tougher
action against Syria’s government.
Mr Putin, an ally of Syria, called for more time to be given to the
peace plan of envoy Kofi Annan, Armenpress reports citing BBC.
The US and UK have called on Moscow to strengthen its condemnation of
the Syrian regime since last week’s massacre in Houla, where 108 died.
Earlier, Moscow opposed a UN Human Rights Council resolution on Syria.
In an emergency session on Friday, the council condemned Syria over
the Houla massacre and called for an investigation.
But Russia voted against the US-backed resolution, arguing that it was
“unbalanced”.
Meanwhile, a US government website published satellite imagesapparently
showing a mass grave in the Houla area.
AZERBAIJANI PRESS REVIEW: AZERBAIJANI-TURKEY “BROTHERHOOD MOSQUE”
hetq
13:19, June 2, 2012
June 2 (APA) – Azerbaijan is planning to spend millions on the
construction of a “brotherhood” mosque” to symbolize the friendships
between Baku and Ankara, according to APA. Azerbaijani President
Aliyev is said to have come up with the idea.
June 2 (APA) – Azerbaijan’s Permanent Mission to the UN organized a
series of informal discussions on the topic of “The peaceful settlement
of disputes, conflict prevention and resolution: mediation, judicial
settlement and justice”.
In his speech, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov spoke
about conflict settlement, with a focus on the Karabakh issue. Azimov
described the conflict as one between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Armenia’s Permanent Rep to the UN opposed this formulation and accused
Baku of hindering efforts at mediation to almost nothing.
Azimov countered by noting: “It is sufficient to note two of them.
Firstly, Armenian citizens serve in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories
and the documents of captivated Armenian soldiers confirm this fact.
Secondly, President of the Republic of Armenian participates as a
conflict party in the negotiations on conflict settlement.”
June 2 (News.az) – Azerbaijan’s presidency of the UN Security Council
ended when Li Baodong, China’s Permanent Rep to the UN, took over. The
Council presidency rotates among its members in alphabetical order
of their names. Each president holds office for one calendar month.
June 2 (News.az) – Azerbaijani MP Rasim Musabayov says that US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton might try to arrange a meeting
between the presidents of Armenian and Azerbaijan during her upcoming
visit to the region.
Musabayov says that the US administration has basically left this
task to the Russians, noting that President Obama is busy with other
international issues and Clinton herself will be leaving her post in
the near future.
The Azerbaijani MP cites the recent US State Department report on
Karabakh as additional evidence that the Americans formally recognize
“the fact of Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories.”
June 1 (Trend) – Azerbaijan and Georgia will be submitting a bid to
UEFA to jointly host the Euro 2020 football competition.
The heads of the football federations of the two countries made the
announcement at a press conference in Tbilisi. The idea is said to
have been raised by Georgian President Saakashvili during a speech
he made at the Azerbaijani parliament earlier this year.
CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS BOYCOTT COUNCIL SEATING IN ARMENIA’S IJEVAN (PHOTO)
June 01, 2012 | 20:06
IJEVAN. – In Armenian Tavush region’s Ijevan city some city council
members continue do not appear during the council seating thus
boycotting the consultations. Ijevan’s budget plan has also not been
confirmed till today, which creates many issues for the community.
During the last council seating on Wednesday 7 out of the 14 council
members were absent.
Ijevan Mayor Vardan Ghalumyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am that he is
not going to do anything for now.
“I am waiting, maybe the council members will still come to the
consultations,” the mayor said.
Talking about the budget not having been confirmed yet Vardan Ghalumyan
stated that if the situation does not settle down he will deprive
the council members of their authority, which he is allowed to do
according to law.
The mayor informed that the boycotting members are supporters of the
previous mayor.
EU DELEGATION HEAD: EUROPEAN COUNCIL PRESIDENT TO DISCUSS NAGORNO KARABAKH DURING VISIT TO AZERBAIJAN
Trend
June 1 2012
Azerbaijan
President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy is coming to
Azerbaijan on the presidential visit, head of the EU office in Baku
Roland Kobia told journalists on Friday.
“Rompuy is coming to Baku on July 5 in the framework of regional
visit also,” Kobia said.
He said that it will be the first visit of Rompuy to the region
and Azerbaijan.
“And this I think is a concrete sign of continuous willingness of
Europe to engage with Azerbaijan,” Kobia added.
He said Rompuy will discuss all important issues, in particular
Nagorno Karabakh.
“As you know, President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel
Barroso and European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs
and Security Policy Catherine Ashton have said the EU is ready to
give support to the process and help the Minsk Group,” Kobia said.
He also expressed his confidence that Rompuy will give the same
message.
“We have very wide agenda with Azerbaijan, so, President Rompuy will
deal with all issues of our cooperation,” he added.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the US –
are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.
The relations between Azerbaijan and the EU are based on the Agreement
on Partnership and Cooperation signed in Luxembourg in 1996. It
entered into force in 1999.
In 2009, Foreign Ministers of the EU countries provided the EU
Commission with a mandate to start negotiations to conclude the EU
bilateral association agreements with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
These agreements will be a new practical instrument which will replace
the bilateral action plans.
EU: NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT LIMITS REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Trend
June 1 2012
Azerbaijan
The courage and decisiveness of the political leaders of the
conflicting parties are required to achieve progress in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, EU Special Representative for
the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, Ambassador Philippe
Lefort said at a meeting with the teaching staff of the European
Studies Center at Yerevan State University, Armenia Today reported.
Stressing that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict significantly limits the
development and integration of the region, Lefort expressed confidence
that there are no insoluble conflicts, regardless of their degree
of complexity.
In his view, the Madrid principles are a tool of resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. EU is willing to contribute to their
implementation.
He also stressed the importance of a public dialogue, adding that
the EU is ready to assist in this issue through the programs.
Lefort added that changing the format of OSCE Minsk Group on
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can bring the entire negotiation process
to nothing.
“EU role in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is being discussed
in EU,” he said. “The issue of changing France was discussed at the
EU, but it is impossible to replace France for several reasons.”
Lefort said that the deaths of people as a result of snipers’ shots
are a tragedy.
He added that the EU is trying to help improve the situation taking
into account the negotiations in Georgia. He recalled that at present,
Ireland, having experience in resolving a difficult conflict, presides
in OSCE.
“But the main thing is that the parties must realize that this
situation can not be continued,” he said. “It is impossible to live
in constant threat of renewed war.”
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the US –
are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.
FAZIL SAY, TURKISH PIANIST, CHARGED WITH INSULTING ISLAM
By SELCAN HACAOGLU
Huffington Post
June 1 2012
ANKARA, Turkey – A Turkish court on Friday formally charged an
internationally known pianist and composer with insulting Islamic
religious values in comments he made on Twitter.
The court in Istanbul voted to approve an indictment against Fazil Say,
who has played piano with the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony
Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, National Orchestra of France and
Tokyo Symphony.
The 42-year-old Turk faces charges of inciting hatred and public
enmity, and insulting “religious values.” Say, who has served as a
culture ambassador for the European Union, allegedly mocked Islamic
beliefs about paradise in April.
Meltem Akyol, a lawyer for Say, said the pianist has denied the
charges. The trial will be held on Oct. 18, she said.
“We certainly do not accept the charges,” Akyol said by telephone
on Friday. “He has stated in his initial testimony during the probe
that he had no intention to humiliate any religion. He was basically
criticizing those who are exploiting religion for profit.”
Akyol said Say’s tweets and retweets on social media cannot be
considered as public remarks because only people who follow him can
see them. In one tweet cited in the indictment, Say said: “What if
there is raki (traditional anisette drink) in paradise but not in hell,
while there is Chivas Regal (scotch) in hell and not in paradise? What
will happen then? This is the most important question!!”
Islam forbids alcohol and many Islamists might consider such remarks
unacceptable. In one of the pianist’s retweets, one excerpt questioned
whether paradise was a “brothel?” according to the indictment.
Akyol claimed that line belonged to the wine-loving 11th century
Persian poet Omar Khayyam, most known for his work the “Rubaiyat of
Omar Khayyam.” But Murat Bardakci, a historian, wrote in HaberTurk
newspaper in April that the alleged line did not belong to Khayyam.
“He was merely expressing his ideas within free speech,” said Akyol,
adding that the renowned artist was not seeking any privileges or
immunity from prosecution.
Akyol, meanwhile, confirmed that Say closed his Twitter account before
the court decision Friday, because he was annoyed with messages.
“He has lately incurred the wrath of some people,” Akyol said. “He
has even been receiving death threats.”
Say had floated the idea of leaving Turkey and moving to Japan
earlier this year, his lawyer said. The pianist was abroad and not
available for comment. He was expected to return to Istanbul this
weekend following a concert in Slovenia on Friday.
Say was the latest prominent Turk to run into trouble in the country
for expressing his views. He could face a maximum 1 1/2 years in
prison if he is convicted.
The European Union has long encouraged Turkey to improve freedom of
speech if it wants to become a member one day.
Turkey’s Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk has been prosecuted for his
comments about the mass killings of Armenians under a law that made
it a crime to insult the Turkish identity before the government eased
that law in an amendment in 2008.
In 2007, ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who received death
threats because of his comments about the killings of Armenians by
Turks in 1915, was shot dead outside his office in Istanbul.