Author: Nahapetian Samvel

A peacekeeping mission in the area of the Karabakh conflict may be possible only after a political settlement is achieved there, Russia’s Ambassador to OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said on Friday, TASS reports.

“The measures of supporting trust between the parties in the region of the Karabakh conflict is a key task after the ceasefire regime comes into force,” he said.

Speaking about a peacekeeping element in the conflict area, he said the “conflict in Nagorno Karabakh is an exclusive responsibility of OSCE, and all other organisations may only favour efforts of that organization.”

“The ideas of a peacekeeping mission, which may be possible only after a political settlement for supporting peace in the region, have been outlined a certain time ago,” he said. “A group of military planning, which unites experts, has put together parameters for a possible peacekeeping mission.”

“What it will be like, in what formats – as yet those are only areas on the maps, where experts show how the peacekeeping mission’s shape could look like,” the Russian diplomat said. “If it comes to that, it would be historic experience for OSCE. However, this all is in theory now.”

He said it would be more important now to enforce the monitoring teams in the area to fix how ceasefire is observed along the line of engagement.

According to the data of the Belgian authorities, there are no Armenians among the victims of the Brussels blasts, the Armenian Embassy in Brussels informs in a Twitter post.

The Embassy also notes that there will be no passenger flights into and out of Brussels Airport tomorrow, 24 March and advises to contact the airlines for flight information.

 

 

 

 

According to preliminary results, moderates and reformists have cemented victory in the Iranian parliamentary elections, while the conservatives have lost majority in Majlis. What are the implications for the Armenian community? Zorzhik Abrahamyan, one of the two Armenians elected to the Parliament says the community will form its approaches and attitudes on the basis of the platforms offered by the political forces.

The vote was the first in Iran after the sanctions were lifted. Zorzhik Abrahamyan says, however, “this does not mean end to sanctions.” He considers that negotiations will still continue, e.g. on issues of human rights.

Meanwhile, Abrahamyan noted that Iranians are excited about the lifting of the main financial sanctions, which opens up perspectives for the development and implementation of commercial and economic programs.

Karen Khanlaryan is another Armenian to be represented in the Iranian Parliament. Speaking to , the MP said he’s going to deepen and expand the current political course.  He will try to take the Armenian Genocide issue to higher podiums.

Khanlaryan said that the Iran-Armenia relations will be in the spotlight and added that the lifting of sanctions outlines new fields of cooperation.

Michigan House of Representatives passes a bill mandating ‪Armenian Genocide‬ education in public schools, Asbarez News reported on its Facebook page.

Photo:  Sputnik/Igor Zarembo

 

Russia’s state security service says it has detained seven people in the country’s Ural mountain region on suspicion of terrorist activities, the Associated Press reports.

The country’s Federal Security Service announced on Monday that the suspects, detained in the regional capital Yekaterinburg, were believed to be plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Ural region.

Law enforcement officials said they uncovered a laboratory for manufacturing explosives and that members of the group were planning to journey to Syria to fight with the Islamic State group.

According to the press release published on the security service’s website, the suspects included Russian citizens and citizens of Central Asia states.

The head of the group has been identified as coming from a terrorist group in Turkey, Sputnik News reported. After conducting terrorist acts in Russia, the group was to head to Syria to join the Islamic State.

 

Syria’s opposition insists it will not attend talks on a political solution to the war in the country despite the UN announcing they will begin on Friday, the BBC reports.

Opposition leaders say representatives will not travel to Geneva unless steps are taken to alleviate the plight of civilians under siege and bombardment.

But UN envoy Staffan de Mistura plans to proceed with indirect “proximity” talks with the Syrian government.

The Governments of Azerbaijan and Hungary have been asked by the European Court of Human Rights to respond formally to a case brought by the relatives of Armenian army officer Gurgen Margaryan, who was murdered by Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov in Budapest in 2004. Mr Margaryan’s relatives are represented by (based in Middlesex University), (Armenian NGO) and Nazeli Vardanyan, reports the 

Both men were attending a NATO-sponsored English-language course in Budapest. On 19 February 2004 Safarov murdered Mr Margaryan by decapitating him with an axe. In April 2006 Safarov was found guilty of murder by the Budapest City Court, and was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the possibility of conditional release after 30 years. The court found that Safarov had intended to kill two Armenian participants at the course on the anniversary of the beginning of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. After the Court of Appeal upheld this judgment in February 2007, Safarov began serving his sentence in a Hungarian prison.

In August 2012 the Hungarian Minister of Justice approved Safarov’s transfer to Azerbaijan with a view to his serving his sentence there (under the ). However, a few hours after Safarov was transferred on 31 August 2012, he was granted a pardon by the Azerbaijani President and set free. He was also promoted to major, awarded eight years’ salary arrears and offered a flat.

In a report published in December 2012, the Hungarian Ombudsman criticised the Hungarian Government for approving the transfer before any assurances about the treatment of Safarov had been received from the Azerbaijani authorities.

The victim’s family argue that Gurgen Margaryan’s right to life (Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights) has been violated by Azerbaijan – both because of his murder, and also because Ramil Safarov’s pardon has prevented the full enforcement of his sentence. They also argue that Mr Margaryan was the victim of an ethnically-motivated hate crime, which was later endorsed by Safarov’s pardon and release (in breach of Article 14 together with Article 2 of the Convention). In addition, they argue that Hungary has breached Article 2 of the Convention because it allowed Safarov to be transferred to Azerbaijan, without having obtained assurances that he would be required to complete his prison sentence in Azerbaijan.

The case is also brought by Hayk Makuchyan, an Armenian military officer whom Ramil Safarov was convicted of intending to murder during the same incident in Budapest.

Both governments are required to lodge their responses with the Strasbourg Court by May. The Court has also invited the Armenian Government to submit its comments, given Mr Margaryan’s nationality.

On 26 January 2016 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe  not to adopt a resolution on “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”, based on a report by the British former member of the Assembly, Robert Walter. The draft resolution (which called on Armenia to withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the Minsk process) was rejected by 70 votes against, 66 in favour and 45 abstentions.

On 16 June 2015, the Grand Chamber of the European Court found that both  and had violated the European Convention rights of civilian victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as they have been prevented from returning to their homes and land which they lost in the early 1990s. The Court has required the Governments to set up property restitution mechanisms for the victims of the conflict. The cases are discussed by Philip Leach in his blog . The implementation of the judgments will be considered by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in June 2016.

In December 2015, Thorbjørn Jagland, the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, opened an into Azerbaijan’s implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights (under Article 52 of the Convention).

Valery Permyakov, a soldier at a Russian base in the Armenian town of Gyumri, pleaded guilty to killing seven members of a family, RIA Novosti reported on Friday.

The family, including a six-month-old baby, was killed as a result of an armed assault on January 12, 2015.

Permyakov was arrested and later charged with the murder of two or more persons under the Armenian Criminal Code.

On August 12, Permyakov was found guilty of desertion, theft of weapons and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The murder case was singled out for considering it in a separate procedure and passed to the Armenian authorities.

On October 13, Permyakov was found sane. According to experts, he was not in the heat of passion while committing the crime. He also could recognize the consequences of his actions.

On October 16, Permyakov was additionally charged with armed assault, home-invasion robbery and attempted border crossing.

Photo: Sputnik/ Valery Melnikov

 

Syrian forces repelled an Islamic State attempt to take control over the strategic Kweiris airbase in the eastern part of Allepo province, sputnik news reports.