Author: Karapet Navasardian

A reformist candidate in Iran’s presidential election has pulled out to smooth the path for the moderate incumbent, Hassan Rouhani, the BBC reports.

The withdrawal of Mr Rouhani’s ally, Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri, from Friday’s poll had been expected.

On Monday, Tehran’s  mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf withdrew his candidacy and urged his supporters to back conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi.

He is now seen as the main threat to Mr Rouhani, who is seeking a second term.

A recent poll had put support for the two hardliners at 52% and for Mr Rouhani at about 42%. Another had Mr Rouhani at 29%, Mr Qalibaf at 12% and Mr Raisi at 11%, with 28% respondents undecided and 20% declining to answer.

If none of the four candidates remaining wins more than 50% of the vote, a run-off will be held on 26 May.

Mr Jahangiri, 60, announced his withdrawal in a speech to several thousand people gathered in the southern city of Shiraz on Tuesday, saying he had run as a candidate to “make the voice of reformists heard”.

“I have completed my historic duty and, together with you, I will vote for Rouhani to help continue on the path to progress for this country,” he said.

“Vote for Rouhani because he is the man for difficult situations,” he added.

The Azerbaijani forces used firearms of different calibers as it violated ceasefire about 60 times at the line of contact with the Artsakh forces on May 15 and the night of May 15.

The rival fired over 1,000 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions, Artsakh Defense Ministry reports.

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

On May 11 Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received the delegation of the Yerkrapah Volunteers Union (YVU) headed by chairman of the organization’s board Manvel Grigoryan.

A range of issues related to the situation along the Karabakh-Azerbaijani borderline, army-society ties and upbringing of the younger generation were addressed during the talks.

For courage and bravery shown during the defense of the Homeland and in connection with the Victory Day, the 25^th anniversary of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic Defense Army and Liberation of Shushi President Sahakyan handed in high state awards to a group of YVU members.

– Turkey under President Tayyip Erdogan has turned its back on joining the European Union, at least for now, the bloc’s top official dealing with Ankara said, offering economic cooperation instead if both sides can restore friendly ties.

After years of stalemate on Turkey’s bid to join the world’s biggest trading bloc, EU governments say the process is dead, citing Erdogan’s crackdown on dissidents, his ‘Nazi’ jibes at Germany and a referendum giving him sweeping new powers that a rights group says lack checks and balances.

“Everybody’s clear that, currently at least, Turkey is moving away from a European perspective,” European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who oversees EU membership bids, told Reuters.

“The focus of our relationship has to be something else,” he said in an interview after EU foreign ministers met in Malta and where France and Germany led efforts to consider a new deal with Ankara based on trade and security ties.

“We have to see what could be done in the future, to see if we can restart some kind of cooperation,” Hahn said on Saturday, saying that he had not had meetings on the economy with NATO-member Turkey since January last year, normally a fixture of accession talks.

The EU process is not formally frozen, but EU lawmakers called last week for a formal halt to talks, with some saying Turkey no longer met the democratic criteria to be considered a candidate, let alone a full member, for the EU.

Erdogan told Reuters in an interview last week that Turkey would not wait at Europe’s door forever and would walk away from accession talks if what he said was rising Islamophobia and hostility from some member states persist.

Launched in 2005 after decades of seeking the formal start of an EU membership bid, negotiations dovetailed with Erdogan’s first economic reforms in power as prime minister from 2003.

EU officials say Turkish reforms to enter the EU brought stability and attracted foreign investment, making Turkey an important emerging economy with high-speed trains crossing the strategically-located country bridging Europe and Asia.

That economic success remains part of Erdogan’s popularity with the pious Turkish poor, who saw living standards rise, although Hahn noted the worsening state of Turkey’s economy now.

The European Union is Turkey’s biggest foreign investor and biggest trading partner, while Turkey shares a border with Iraq, Syria and with Russia in the Black Sea.

Hahn said he would present a report by early next year to EU governments to clarify Turkey’s status. The lack of urgency shows the reluctance of EU states to upset Ankara, given that they rely on Turkey to keep migrants from coming to Europe, diplomats said.

But Hahn said that limits on with press freedoms, mass jailing and shrinking civil rights made it almost impossible at the present time for Turkey to meet EU joining criteria.

Hahn said EU rules “were not negotiable” and the bloc would not “decouple the human rights situation” from discussions.

“There is no version of Turkish democracy. There is only democracy. Turkish people have the same rights to live in freedom as Europeans do,” said Hahn, whose delegation in Turkey has visited dissidents in prison.

A slim majority of 51.4 percent of Turkish voters voted in April to grant the president sweeping new powers, the biggest overhaul of the country’s politics since the founding of the modern republic, amid opposition accusations of vote fraud.

Asked if the European Union was partly responsible for Turkey’s turn towards a more centralised system, Hahn said the drive to change had come from inside the country.

“Nobody can claim to be blameless, but it is always the sovereign decision of a country (to decide policy) … If you have a certain vision in mind, it is difficult to intervene in a meaningful way,” Hahn said.

“All these reform efforts are not done for the European Union but for the sake of (Turkish) citizens,” Hahn said, referring to the process that helped transform former communist countries in central and eastern Europe into thriving market democracies as they sought to join the European Union.

“This is not about serving the Europeans,” he said.

Şişli Provincial Organization of HDP has been holding “April 23,5 commemoration” for 5 years. This year, the police on winterfered with the commemoration on the occasion of 102nd anniversary of Armenian Genocide. The commemoratias held in the office of HDP, reports.

Speaking at the commemoration, Nor Zartonk spokesperson Norayr Olgar stated that genocide is continuing today in Kurdish cities: “Peace is impossible without confrontation. Victims of the genocide are everywhere.”

Melis Tantan from Şişli Provincial Organization stated that they want to relieve the suffering caused 102 years ago and the social trauma to some extent. Stating that the genocide hasn’t ended in 1915, Tantan said:

“The genocide continues with the changed names of old Armenian neighborhoods and with schools and streets named after Talat Pasha, who is one of the perpetrators of the genocide. The genocide continues with the murders of Hrant Dink, Sevag Balıkçı and Maritsa Küçük and the impunity in such cases.”

President Donald Trump congratulated Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his referendum victory, a sharp departure from the critical reception many European officials have given the vote to expand Erdogan’s powers, AP reports.

The White House said the leaders also discussed the war in Syria, which has complicated ties between the two countries.

The White House said the two leaders discussed the campaign against Islamic State, including “the need to cooperate against all groups that use terrorism to achieve their ends.”

On April 11 the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia performed within the framework of the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Poland. Headed by conductor Sergey Smbatyan the Youth Orchestra presented compositions by Aram Khachaturian, Ghazaros Sarian, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall.

The president of the Ludwig van Beethoven Association Elżbieta Penderecka said “the concert proved that there is a great orchestra in Armenia headed by wonderful conductor Sergey Smbatyan. “Not only Polish, but also international music lovers enjoyed the concert,” she said.

The Ambassador of Armenia to Poland Egdar Kazaryan noted that he felt pride, joy, excitement, as the Polish audience was introduced to Armenian classical music by the talented young musicians, and the concert was accompanied by ovations.

The concert of the orchestra was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Poland and the 650th anniversary of the Armenian community in Poland. Soloists Narek Hakhnazaryan (cello) and Jarosław Nadrzycki (violin) performed with the orchestra.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has claimed there is plenty more to come from him next season, the Daily Star reports.

He endured a tough start to life in England before showing his class with a flurry of goals and assists.

And he is confident of wowing United fans in the future.

When asked whether he was ‘in tune’ with the Premier League, Mkhitaryan told United’s programme: ”No, not yet.

“I still have places where I can improve and have room to improve.

“I know myself very well and I am sure that I can do better, and I will do better, because I am confident.

“As I know very well within myself that I can do more.

“I want to say that, for next year, I am going to have more goals and more assists.”