Author: Kanayan Tamar

Turkey has ordered the closure of 20 television and radio stations, including one that airs children’s programmes, on charges they spread “terrorist propaganda”, adding to fears that emergency rule is being used to stifle the media, Reuters reports.

President Tayyip Erdogan has said he wants a three-month state of emergency, imposed after a failed coup attempt in July, to be prolonged past October so authorities can eradicate the threat posed by a religious movement blamed for the attempt, as well as Kurdish militants who have waged a 32-year insurgency.

The banned channels are owned or operated by Kurds or the Alevi religious minority, according to Hamza Aktan, news editor at IMC TV, a news broadcaster slated for closure. He cited a copy of the decision obtained by his channel, which was based on powers given the government in a decree issued in July.

“This has nothing to do with the coup. It is an effort to silence the last independent media covering the Kurdish issue and violations committed by the state,” Aktan told Reuters.

IMC has aired reports looking at security forces’ conduct during 14 months of military operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has killed thousands.

Among the 12 shuttered television channels are Govend TV, which plays folk music, and Zarok TV, which airs Kurdish-language children’s cartoons. The decision also shut 11 radio stations for harming national security, Aktan said.

“Turkey is targeting a wide swath of cultural and political expression by shuttering minority broadcasters,” Robert Mahoney of the Committee to Protect Journalists said. “When the government sees even children’s programming as a threat to national security, it is clearly abusing its emergency powers.”

According to a decree signed by President Serzh Sargsyan, Armen Yeritsyan has been appointed as Minister of Emergency Situations.

EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn has welcomed the signature of new political agreement on electoral reforms between Armenian government and opposition, consulted with the Civil Society.

“EU stands ready to assist, also financially, the implementation of this important agreement,” Commissioner Hahn said in a Twitter post.

On 14 September Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan sent a congratulatory address to the newly-appointed prime-minister of the Republic of Armenia Karen Karapetyan.

The address runs as follows:

“On behalf of the people and authorities of the Artsakh Republic and on my own behalf, I extend my cordial congratulations to You on being appointed to the post of Republic of Armenia’s Prime Minister.

You have rich experience and knowledge, high personal and professional abilities that will greatly favor the realization of Your activity in this responsible position.

I am confident You will continue serving selflessly to the patriotic mission of bringing prosperity and development the Motherland’s and native people’s, strengthening the Armenian statehood, securing economic progress, deepening and widening ties between Armenia and Artsakh on a consistent basis.

I wish You great success for the glory of the Republic of Armenian and the Armenia people”.

Two policemen held hostage at the police station in Yerevan’s Erebuni district since Sunday have been released.

“The negotiations with members of the Sasna Tsrer (Daredevils of Sasoun) group continue,” Head of the Press Center of the Armenian National Security Service Samson Galstyan said in comments to Tert.am.

“Members of the group have voluntarily released two police hostages,” he said, without going into details about the negotiation process.

Several German lawmakers said on Sunday the country’s soldiers working at Turkey’s Incirlik airbase should be brought home if Ankara continued to prevent parliamentarians from visiting the station, reports.

Turkey, angered by a resolution passed by the German parliament last month that branded the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces a genocide, has denied German lawmakers access to the base.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said the parliamentarians must be allowed to visit the 250 soldiers at the base who are taking part in NATO operations against Islamic State militants in Iraq but she stopped short of threatening to withdraw the soldiers.

A leader of Germany’s opposition Greens, Cem Ozdemir told ARD television the situation was unacceptable.

“As lawmakers who send soldiers to places, we must know where they are, how they are and be able to talk to the soldiers. If that is not possible in Turkey then the soldiers must come back to Germany,” he said.

Lawmakers approve military spending and investment in infrastructure at the base.

Asked if she would consider withdrawing troops from Incirlik if no agreement were reached, Merkel said she was focusing on resolving the matter by talking.

“A way must be found for the lawmakers to visit the soldiers. We must continue to work on this, the solution is not yet there,” she told broadcaster ZDF in an interview.

Merkel met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Warsaw on Saturday. She said the atmosphere was constructive but the differences remained.

Andreas Scheuer, General Secretary of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) who are part of Merkel’s conservative bloc in parliament, said lawmakers had to be allowed to visit soldiers.

“As a result of his behaviour, Turkish President Erdogan is risking the withdrawal of the German army,” he told Monday’s Tagesspiegel daily, according to extracts sent in advance.

The NATO summit is an opportunity to continue discussions on Nagorno Karabakh, US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick said in a Twitter post.

“Just arrived in Warsaw for the NATO summit. It’s an opportunity to continue discussions on Nagorno Karabakh peace process with Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Warlick said.

The summit will be held in Poland July 8-9.

– Turkey is blocking the plans of a senior German defence official to visit Incirlik air base in July, a spokesman for the German defence ministry said on Wednesday, in a sign of increasingly tense relations between the two NATO allies.

Germany has about 250 soldiers stationed at the base in southern Turkey, along with six Tornado reconnaissance jets and a refueling plane, all of which are participating in a U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

“Turkish officials do not currently approve of the travel plans,” a ministry spokesman said, confirming a report published by the website of the German magazine Spiegel.

Ralf Brauksiepe, a deputy to German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, had planned to visit the Incirlik military air base along with some German lawmakers next month, the spokesman said, adding that Berlin still hoped the trip could go ahead.

Turkish officials were not immediately available for comment.

Just last week, a German defence ministry spokesman had said the two countries were finalizing an agreement on construction of new housing and aircraft facilities for German forces at the Incirlik air base, holding the deal up as evidence of the continued strength of German-Turkish military relations.

Ties between Germany and Turkey have been strained over a number of issues, including a resolution adopted by the German parliament that declares the 1915 massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces a genocide.

On June 19, Edward Nalbandian, Foreign Minister of Armenia, received the delegation headed by Martine Vassal, President of Bouches-du-Rhône Department of France.

Welcoming Ms. Vassal, Edward Nalbandian commended the high-level friendly relations of Armenia and France and attached importance to Martine Vassal’s personal input in the deepening of bilateral cooperation.

The sides expressed satisfaction with the dynamic development of the Armenian-French decentralized cooperation along with the inter-state one, and regular mutual visits and jointly implemented projects implemented are the best prove of that. The interlocutors attached significance to the role of the French Armenian community in enhancement and expansion of friendship between the two states.

Martine Vassal presented purpose of the visit paid by representative delegation of the Département Bouches-du-Rhône of France, the initiatives aimed at the intensification of cooperation between Bouches-du-Rhône and marzes (provinces) of Armenia.

Minister Nalbandian presented to the guests the consequences of aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh in early April and efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs exerted for overcoming those consequences.

On June 16, the working visit of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Karen Mirzoyan to the Kingdom of Denmark started.

In the framework of the visit, the Foreign Minister had meetings with representatives of various political circles, at which the current situation in the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement was touched upon, in particular, in the context of the military venture unleashed by Azerbaijan in early April.

The sides exchanged views on a range of issues related to the regional security. The Foreign Minister also briefed the participants about the state building process in Artsakh, as well as the steps taken by the people and authorities of Artsakh towards the establishment of a free and democratic society.

On the same day, Foreign Minister Karen Mirzoyan participated in the reception organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia to the Kingdom of Denmark on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

RA Ambassador to Denmark Hrachya Aghajanyan delivered a welcoming speech, attaching great importance to the first ever event dedicated to Artsakh in friendly Denmark. The Ambassador noted that Artsakh’s independence was based on the unshakeable aspiration of Armenians to achieve freedom, manage their own lives without oppression and preserve their centuries-old culture and identity.

In his speech, Minister Karen Mirzoyan briefed on the way passed by the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, noting that Artsakh’s achievements would be impossible without the continuous support by Armenia and the Diaspora. He stressed that not only our compatriots, but also many people around the world, including in Denmark, were standing by Artsakh, sharing with its people the same values and ideas based on the imperatives of democratic freedoms and the realization of peoples’ right to self-determination. Karen Mirzoyan expressed confidence that the achievements of the people of Artsakh on their path to independent state building didn’t go unnoticed, and sooner or later, Artsakh would become a full member of the civilized world.

He urged to work for the vision of peaceful and stable South Caucasus region, which would ensure the security and peaceful coexistence of all the peoples of the region.

Vox Viva male choir, which gave a concert in the NKR in 2015, participated in the reception. The choir performed works by Armenian and Danish composers. After the performance, the choir’s artistic director Mette Rimer shared his impressions of the trip to Artsakh, expressed gratitude for the cordial reception, and noted that he looked forward to the opportunity of hosting Artsakh’s choir in Denmark.

The reception was attended by diplomats, political and public figures, representatives of the expert community, journalists, and members of the Armenian community of Denmark.