Simon Cowell had his heart in his mouth during the first episode of Britain’s Got Talent as two brothers performed a sword stunt.
The acrobatic duo, who live in Russia, wowed the audience with the first part of their routine as they showed off their impressive balancing act and athleticism.
German Bundestag ratifies Armenia-EU CEPA
21:48, 4 April, 2019
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, ARMENPRESS. The German Bundestag ratifies the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Armenia and the EU on April 4, ARMENPRESS was informed from the twitter page of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia.
Armenia-EU CEPA was signed on November 24,2017. It has already been ratified by Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria, Luxemburg, as well as the European Council.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
Archbishop Mesrob II Mutafyan, the Armenian patriarch of Constantinople, was laid to rest on March 17 as many political and religious figures and Armenian nationals from overseas bid their final farewells to him, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.
At a ceremony in St. Mary Armenian Church in Istanbul’s Kumkapi neighborhood, many prayed for Mutafyan’s eternal rest.
The archbishop’s coffin was rested on a catafalque for mourning visitors to pay him their respects after the prayers and was referred to the Sisli Armenian cemetery in an area designated for patriarchs for burial.
Many senior officials from ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) including the party’s spokesperson Omer Celik and its Istanbul mayoral candidate Binali Yildirım, along with the presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin attended the funeral service.
Archbishop Mesrob II Mutafyan died at age 62 in the Surp Pirgic Armenian Hospital in Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu district on March 8 where he was receiving treatment.
He had been incapacitated since 2008 with an early onset of dementia.
Preparations for the election of a new patriarch for Turkey are expected to begin after a 40-day mourning period.
Friday,
Police Officer ‘Suspended’ Over Hitting Protester
Protesters in a standoff with police near Yerevan's Opera House,
A police officer has been suspended from performing his duties pending
investigation after a video showing him hitting a protester, a police spokesman
said.
In a Facebook post late on Thursday head of the Police’s Information and Public
Relations Department Ashot Aharonian said: “A video has been disseminated
showing a police officer hitting and kicking a citizen in [Yerevan’s] Liberty
Square. Upon the instruction of Police Chief Valery Osipian, the Police’s
Internal Security Department has launched an internal probe in connection with
the case, while the police officer has been suspended from performing his
duties.”
The incident took place on Thursday when municipal authorities continued to
dismantle cafes in the vicinity of the Opera House in Yerevan.
Several dozen employees of the cafes as well as their owners staged a protest,
trying to block traffic in a nearby street.
Police detained 16 citizens for “not complying with police officers’ lawful
demands.” They were released later on.
At least one police officer and one protester were injured in the scuffle and
were briefly hospitalized to be treated for their injuries.
Yerevan’s municipal authorities said they will continue the demolition work to
free the green zone around the cultural building from illegal structures.
The cafe owners and employees described the actions of the municipality as
illegal.
Some activists, on the contrary, had come to the square to show their support
for the actions of the Yerevan authorities and the police.
Civil activist Vardges Gaspari said the authorities were doing the right thing
from the point of view of both law and morality. He told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service last night that his poster was seized from him by one of the protesting
young men and his glasses were broken during the scuffle.
Court Extends Detention Of Ex-President Kocharian
• Anush Mkrtchian
Former President Robert Kocharian gives an interview to Russia's NTV television
channel, Yerevan, 28Aug2018
A court in Yerevan on Friday extended by two months the pretrial detention of
Robert Kocharian, a lawyer for the former Armenian president said after the
court session.
Aram Orbelian also said he would appeal the decision.
Kocharian was again arrested in December more than four months after being
charged with overthrowing the constitutional order during the final weeks of
his decade-long rule that ended in April 2008. He denies the accusations as
politically motivated.
Earlier this month the Special Investigative Service (SIS) asked the court to
extend Kocharian’s arrest for the second time since his re-arrest late last
year. The court granted the request.
Kocharian’s lawyers have dismissed the SIS’s case against their client as
groundless and politically motivated.
Kocharian is specifically accused of illegally using Armenian army units
against opposition supporters who protested against alleged fraud in a disputed
presidential election held in February 2008. Law-enforcement authorities say
that amounted to an overthrow of the constitutional order.
Eight protesters and two policemen were killed when security forces quelled the
protests on March 1-2, 2008. Kocharian declared a three-week state of emergency
on that night.
The 64-year-old ex-president says the accusations are part of incumbent Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s political “vendetta” waged against him.
Pashinian played a key role in the 2008 protests and spent nearly two years in
prison because of that. He has strongly defended the criminal case against
Kocharian and denied orchestrating it.
Two Activists Charged With Attempted Kidnapping
• Naira Bulghadarian
Davit Petrosian, a member of the Restart student group, 11Mar2019
Two activists involved in an attack on a video blogger highly critical of
Armenia’s government have been charged with attempted kidnapping, a
spokesperson for the country’s Prosecutor-General’s office said on Friday.
Following the incident that occurred earlier this month prosecutors originally
opened criminal proceedings on the hallmarks of hooliganism. Later, due to new
evidence that emerged in the case members of the Restart student group Davit
Petrosian and Davit Simonian were charged with attempting to kidnap the
blogger, Narek Malian. The two are confined to country limits pending
investigation.
Malian was confronted outside his home in downtown Yerevan by members of the
group shortly after midnight. A YouTube video of the incident showed the
Restart leader, Petrosian, and several other men forcibly carrying Malian along
an adjacent street before being stopped by police officers.
Petrosian posted the video on his Facebook page, writing: “There are moments in
life when you can’t choose between the good and the bad and just have to listen
to your conscience.”
In a statement, Restart said it wanted to throw Malian into a trash container.
Petrosian likewise explained that he and his comrades tried “to put the garbage
in its place” in response to what he called Malian’s offensive and slanderous
statements about their activities.
Malian, Petrosian, and four other men were detained on the spot but were set
free a few hours later. Malian was later recognized as a victim in the case.
Originally, the investigation was conducted under an article of the Criminal
Code dealing with “hooliganism.” Malian, who worked until last year as an
adviser to former police chief Vladimir Gasparian, described the assault as a
“kidnapping attempt”. He linked the incident to his vocal efforts to prevent
the sacking of the long-serving rector of Yerevan State University (YSU), Aram
Simonian, which is sought by the government. Late last month the former police
official staged a lone protest at a meeting of YSU’s supervisory board that
narrowly failed to fire Simonian.
Restart has on the contrary been campaigning for the controversial rector’s
ouster since last year’s “velvet revolution” in Armenia. The youth group
comprising current and former YSU students actively participated in the
revolution.
By contrast, Malian has been very scathing about the dramatic regime change in
the country. He regularly attacks Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other
government officials and pours scorn on their supporters on his Facebook page.
Incidentally, Pashinian was quick to condemn the assault, saying that “any
attempt to solve issues in Armenia through violence must meet with a tough
legal reaction.”
Armenian PM Offers Condolences Over New Zealand Attacks
An injured person is loaded into an ambulance following a shooting in
Christchurch, New Zealand
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has sent a telegram of condolences to
Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Arden over the terror attacks in two
mosques in the city of Christchurch in which dozens of people were killed.
According to the prime minister’s official website, in his message Pashinian
said that he was “deeply saddened” by the terrorist attacks that “claimed the
lives of many innocent people.”
“Strongly condemning terrorism in all its forms, I express my sincere
condolences and support to you, the families of the victims and the friendly
people of New Zealand,” Pashinian said.
The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also twitted words of condolences over
the Christchurch attacks, saying that “on this dark day, we stand with the
people of New Zealand in condemning violence and terrorism.”
Forty-nine people were killed and 20 wounded in an attack on two mosques in
Christchurch on Friday. Police in New Zealand have arrested the suspected
shooter, bringing murder charges against him.
Meanwhile, the Armenian National Committee of New Zealand also offered its
deepest condolences over the terror attacks and unequivocally condemned them.
“Further, we condemn the accused gunman’s attempt to reference the Armenian
language, along with the languages of other Christian nationalities – including
Georgian, Serbian, Russian and Austrian - through markings on his weapons used
in what was an unacceptable hate crime targeting the Islamic community,” the
organization said in a statement, stressing that “such crusades have no place
in our world, and definitely no place in peace-loving New Zealand.”
Press Review
“Zhoghovurd” reflects on the statements by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov who said on March 14 that Baku is
against changing the format of negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.
“This behavior by Azerbaijan is quite natural, even though in 1994 Baku signed
a document, recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh as a party to the conflict. Later, it
did everything to shift the problem into the field of relations between Armenia
and Azerbaijan only. And because of the former Armenian authorities 20 years
ago Azerbaijan got what it wanted, as Nagorno-Karabakh was left out of the
format of negotiations. So, it is natural that Azerbaijan should oppose
Nagorno-Karabakh’s return to the negotiating table. What is strange is the
assessments voiced by foreign diplomats that by raising the issue of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s return to the negotiating table Armenia sets a demand for
changing the format of negotiations,” the paper writes, stressing that Yerevan
should have made it clear through its diplomacy that the matter concerns “the
full application of the 1994 format.”
“Zhamanak” writes that there have been some media reports saying that Armenian
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who visited Nagorno-Karabakh for the purpose of
co-chairing a joint meeting of the Armenian and Karabakh Security Councils,
also had a meeting on the so-called ‘internal political’ subject, in
particular, with Vitaliy Balasanian, a plausible presidential candidate in
Nagorno-Karabakh’s 2020 presidential election. “Pashinian stated that Armenia
is pursuing a policy of raising Nagorno-Karabakh’s status as an entity, which
means that Armenia should seek not to meddle in the process of the formation of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s government,” the paper writes, adding: “At the same time, it
is clear that Armenia cannot but have its interest in it, because as in the
case with non-interference in the judicial system in Armenia, the possibility
of influence of the former system may become considerable.”
The editor of “Aravot” comments on the dismantling of cafes located in the
vicinity of the Opera House in Yerevan’s Liberty Square: “Personally, I would
have tolerated the existence of these cafes for several more years, especially
since their owners signed contracts with the municipality until 2022-23. And
the right of ownership is also very important, including in terms of attracting
investment. The decision to dismantle the cafes could have been postponed.
Meanwhile, some ‘constructive’ work could be done before demolishing. It is
clear that within a few months it is impossible to free us from the poor
transport system or build a new metro station, but at least some work could be
started… so that in two or three years the authorities could say: ‘Well, we
have done some good things, and now we are dismantling the bad things.’”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org
ArmInfo. Management, faculty and officers of the Military- Sports Lyceum after Monte Melkonyan responded to the statement of the head of the Committee on State Property Management of Armenia Narek Babayan about the unreasonable misuse of the Ministry of Finance Training Center in Dilijan, in which more than a dozen million dollars were invested.
As noted in the statement of the leadership of the lyceum received by ArmInfo, they once again sadly state that the head of the Committee on State Property Management, Narek Babayan, simply does not know the situation and information.
The management, teaching and officers of the military-sports lyceum closely follow the publications in the media regarding the lyceum. As a result, they are ready to refute a number of statements, in particular, Babayan that about 100 cadets study at the Lyceum. “The 2018-2019 school year began with 215 cadets, today there are 190. Next year we plan to accept 250 cadets,” they say.
In addition, as noted by the management of the Lyceum, the hotel and cottages on the territory of the training center are not at all idle, as Babayan claims. The teaching and officers of the Lyceum use them, and from this year they will be used for their intended purpose. Only in 2018, there were as many as two seminars and forums sponsored by the EU at the Lyceum. “The lyceum has also become an indispensable harbor for high-ranking guests of the Defense Ministry and for conducting various programs,” they note.
The cottages are also not idle: in 3 of them there are lyceum heads, who are visited by family members from time to time, in one cottage there is a first-aid post, and in the rest there are guests – prominent military figures and intellectuals who come to the center with lectures. At the same time, as they point out, Narek Babayan should not doubt the managerial qualities of the management of the lyceum, who has management experience in various structures.
Yesterday of the conversation with journalists, head of the State Committee on Property Management, Narek Babayan, said that the inappropriate use of the training center of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia is unacceptable. According to him, Lyceum after Monte Melkonyan should be provided with good conditions, but we do not have the right to commit to inaction such a construction with multi-million investments, for the preservation of which we continue to allocate huge funds and not benefit from them. At the same time, as he pointed out, the hotel can claim the title of “luxury”. “Of course, lyceum cadets should be provided with good conditions, but this does not mean that a lyceum with 100 students should be given an area of 8 hectares with excellent luxury living conditions,” he said, urging to refrain from manipulating in the context of the fact that the soldier worthy of the best conditions. The construction of the training center of the Ministry of Finance caused in its time loud discussions in connection with the costs that the Ministry of Finance at the expense of state funds directs to its equipment. There and spas, saunas, a restaurant, several cafes and tennis courts, a separate hotel. Furnished object, to put it mildly, luxurious. Only according to official documents, 26 billion drams, or about $ 60 million, were spent on all this from the state budget. Let us say, for comparison, that the construction in the center of Yerevan of a huge hotel under an international brand required $ 23 million.
> >
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Azerbaijan calls upon all Members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to practically support the activities of the group to operationalize the OIC decisions and resolutions on Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and facilitate appropriate actions to compel Armenia to comply with the relevant OIC documents, Trend reports citing Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.
He made the remarks during the 46th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC in Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“Over five decades since its establishment, the OIC as the unique multilateral body of the Muslim world, has become a strategic dialogue partner to the international community in the maintenance of global peace and security. Yet today our organization is facing the unprecedented challenges both internal and external – which constitute existential threats to the Members’ unity, integrity and sovereignty.
The continuous armed conflicts and terrorist attacks in our geography notably in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, as well as rising trend of intolerance, racism and xenophobia in various parts of the world demonstrate the deficiency of current international mechanisms aimed to guaranty international peace and security. Therefore our joint actions aimed at peaceful and brotherly resolutions of conflicts within our geography and firm stand in fighting terrorism, preserving the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all Members, countering Islamophobia are of utmost priority. In this regard Azerbaijan attaches great importance to the reform process in the OIC aimed at increasing the overall efficiency of the Organization, in particular strengthening its mediation capacity to address the conflicts.
The Republic of Azerbaijan being adherent to the collective approach and joint strategy of the Organization will continue to work with the Member States towards peaceful resolution of the conflicts, including through various OIC Contact Groups to which Azerbaijan is a member, notably on Palestine, Jammu and Kashmir, Somali and Muslim minorities in Europe. In this regard we call upon all Member States to spare no efforts in implementing the principles of collective approach and Islamic solidarity.
The Palestinian issue being at the heart of the OIC raison d’etre is the one which requires such collective approach. Azerbaijan reaffirms full solidarity and persistent support for the just and lasting solution to the issue and stands for the two-state solution of the Palestinian conflict with East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine.
Being committed to this objective Azerbaijan congratulates Palestinian government for official assumption of the “Group of G77 and China” presidency, which would consolidate the political and legal status of Palestine in the international arena, and its well-deserved right to acquire full UN membership. Last year Azerbaijan hosted NAM Ministerial Committee on Palestine within 18th Mid-term Ministerial Meeting of the Non Alignment Movement (NAM). The Final Baku Declaration reiterated urgent call for serious, collective efforts to bring a complete end to the violence in Palestine. In November of 2018, Azerbaijan hosted the Annual Meeting of Ambassadors of the State of Palestine accredited in Asia thus contributing to capacity building of Palestinian government. On humanitarian part of support for Palestinian people Azerbaijan allocated last October 200 000 dollars to UNRWA .
Let me assure this Organization that during our chairmanship in the NAM in the period of 2019-2022 Azerbaijan will spare no efforts to further contribute to the peace in Palestine as well as towards peace, security and development of the Islamic countries at large.
While doing its utmost to contribute to international peace and security Azerbaijan is still facing continuous military aggression by Armenia, which resulted in occupation of 20 percent of internationally recognized territory of my country, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions; in ethnic cleansing of almost 1 million Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs; in destruction and desecration of numerous historical, cultural and religious monuments in the territories of Azerbaijan still occupied by Armenia.
The mediation efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe unfortunately have still not yielded results which should be liberation of the occupied lands and restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This definitive result for negotiations is vested in the UN SC relevant resolutions as well as resolutions of the OIC, relevant documents of OSCE, European Union and almost any international organization ever dealt with the conflict.
Despite all of these calls, despite all our efforts to resolve the conflict by peaceful means Armenia continues its policy of predatory looting of the natural resources and destroying historic and Islamic legacy of the occupied territories aimed at solidifying the results of its aggression; violating the ceasefire, killing and wounding Azerbaijani servicemen and civilians almost on a daily basis. I appreciate just position of the OIC member-states with regard to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, reflected in the OIC Ministerial resolutions. I also call for reflection of the position of justice and solidarity expressed within this august body while dealing with the aggressor state on bilateral basis as well as at international fora. The attempts by Armenia to abuse international cultural, language-based or humanitarian fora with a view of promoting its policy of occupation and of breaching solidarity of this very organization should be met with our unified stance. Armenian attempts to engage some of the Member States into economic and cultural cooperation, organize touristic promotion of occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan or of so called preserved Islamic heritage in its own territory while destroying this very heritage is nothing else but cynical policy of legalizing the occupation and strengthening the occupier from which we strongly call upon the Member States to refrain from.
While commending the annual meetings of the OIC Contact Group on the Aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan held since 2016 in New-York and expressing in this regard our appreciation to its members and the OIC Secretary General we call upon all Members to practically support the activities of the group to operationalize the OIC decisions and resolutions on Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and facilitate appropriate actions to compel Armenia to comply with the relevant OIC documents.
Azerbaijan commends the work of the OIC institutions aimed at strengthening our solidarity and raising our collective voice in international arena. In this regard I would like to highlight ISESCO statement condemning construction by Armenia of a new canal from the Sarsang Reservoir in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories being in flagrant violation of the international law and aimed at creating environmental disaster for the adjacent regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
We appreciate the members solidarity demonstrated within the “Justice for Khojaly” international campaign carried out by the Islamic Conference Youth Forum and within implementation of the resolution on “The solidarity with the victims of the Khojaly massacre” aimed at raising global awareness on genocide of civilian Azerbaijanis by the Armenian forces in the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly in February 1992.
I would like also to underline importance of our solidarity in times of hardships and natural disasters such as OIC humanitarian support in the aftermath of Indonesian 2018 earthquake to which Azerbaijan was privileged to contribute.
Our solidarity needs to be demonstrated also in strengthening the much needed global inter-cultural dialogue and countering dangers of xenophobia, racism, hate speech and Islamophobia. In this regard I call upon Member states to actively participate in the 5th edition of the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue to be held in May 2019 in Baku, which constitutes a central part of the “Baku Process” initiated by the President of Azerbaijan H.E. Mr. Ilham Aliyev in 2008. The process supported by influential international partners such as OIC, UNESCO, UN Alliance of Civilizations, World Tourism Organization, Council of Europe and ISESCO is aimed at strengthening inter-cultural dialogue and mutual understanding as foundation for sustainable peace and inclusive development.
In 2018, Nakhchivan, an ancient Azerbaijan city, named capital of Islamic culture hosted various cultural programs further contributing to enriching our cultural ties. We are looking forward to host the first ever OIC Cultural Week this year in Azerbaijan and the Eighth International Contest of young performers of classical music from our countries which will support the young talents and creativity.
Azerbaijan supports the activities of the ICYF and its Eurasian Regional Centre hosted by the Government of Azerbaijan in Baku and during our tenure of chairmanship in the Ministerial Council on Youth and Sports we will continue practical contribution to youth and sports development. The 2nd Executive Model OIC games, Islamic countries young entrepreneurs’ network to be hosted within this tenure by Azerbaijan among various youth oriented programs are aimed at strengthening friendship between Islamic countries through youth and sports activities.
We also invite members to finalize the ratification process of the OIC specialized organ namely, The OIC Labour Center, initiated by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan H.E Mr. Ilham Aliyev with the aim to support the productive force and economic growth of our countries, an important goal of the “OIC-2025 Programme of Action”.
I would like to conclude by reiterating my sincere congratulations to the OIC Members on the occasion of the 50th Jubilee once again and wish the next 50 years to be marked with our greater strength and solidarity to fruit with sustainable peace, stability and development for our Ummah,” said the foreign minister.