Author: Tatoyan Vazgen

France 24 – Iran’s President Hassan Rohani has apparently objected to dining at the Elysée presidential palace during his upcoming visit to Paris, if wine is served during the meal, French media have reported.

Rohani is visiting Paris as part of a four-day tour of Italy and France beginning November 14 making him the first Iranian president to travel to Europe in a decade, according to the state news agency IRNA.

The tour – which comes four months after the Iran nuclear deal was reached – will first take Rohani to Italy, where he will meet President Sergio Mattarella and Pope Francis, Iranian presidential spokesman Parviz Esmaili told IRNA.

He will then travel to France on November 16-17, where he is expected to give a speech at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris.

“He will officially be received by French President François Hollande on Tuesday morning and will hold talks with French government officials before returning to Tehran,” Esmaili said.

Kogalymavia confirmed on Monday that a Russian airliner’s tail part had been damaged prior to the air crash in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Sputnik News reports.

After the tail part of the Airbus A321 plane had sustained damages, the airliner was repaired. The technical condition of the plane was normal, Kogalymavia officials said.

External forces are the only possible reason of the deadly crash, Kogalymavia officials said Monday. Kogalymavia 7K9268 flight likely suffered substantial damages when it started to fall, officials said.

The Kogalymavia plane’s crew completely lost control over the aircraft as the disaster started to unfold.

However, the crashed Russian airliner had passed all necessary tests, the company’s top manager said Monday.

Political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan believes Russia’s activity in Syria will change the situation in the South Caucasus, as well, since Moscow, which seeks security in Syria, will pay greater attention to developments in the South Caucasus.

“It will apply all means and efforts to ensure predictability of the situation here,” the analyst said.

As for the West’s resistance to Russia’s activites, he said it’s natural. “It’s obvious that the United States and the European Union have no clear solutions for their activity at this point. They are not coming forth with new initiatives and are just reacting to Russia’s actions,” the political scientist noted.

At the same time he said the EU is trying to intensify its regional policy, reviewing the mistakes made within the framework of the Eastern Partnership and trying to demonstrate individual attitude towards the Partnership countries. As a result we have the decision to renew talks with Armenia. Hrant Melik Shahnazaryan expects interesting developments in this regard.

The political scientist, however, does not anticipate positive moves in Armenia-Turkey ties. As for the reports on the violation of the Armenian air space by Turkish helicopters, he considers that Armenia’s reaction was to be harsher, even if it was accidental. “It was necessary to raise a diplomatic scandal and bring the issue to different international structures.”

According to him, the utmost should be done to prevent the activeness of Turkey in the South Caucasus.

Russia won’t be building a new radar station on the site of the radar station in Azerbaijan’s Gabala, as it doesn’t consider it reasonable to build such systems abroad, RIA Novosti reports, quoting Major General Anatoly Nestechuk, chief of staff of the 15th Army aerospace special forces.

“I believe that the national system’s facilities should be in the territory of the Russian Federation,” he further commented.

Indonesia’s Aviastar airline said on Friday contact had been lost with a Twin Otter small passenger aircraft travelling between Masamba and Makassar on the island of Sulawesi.

Ten people were on board the aircraft, Wisnu Darjono, an official at Indonesia’s flight safety agency told Reuters. He confirmed authorities had lost contact with the aircraft.

Indonesian authorities have launched a search for the plane.

The Transportation Ministry said a search has begun for the aircraft that lost contact on a flight from the town of Masamba, about 30 minutes before its was scheduled to land in Makassar city.

“It was around 60 nautical miles from Makassar,” ministry spokesman J.R. Barata told MetroTV. “We have now started a search.”

“Most importantly, we will work out its position first,” Barata said adding that 10 people – seven passengers and three crew – were on board.

Aviastar, which flies domestic routes, said it had lost contact with the aircraft in the mid-afternoon and it had then contacted search authorities.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has discussed the urgent issues of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlemen with co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (US, France, Russia, OSCE), TASS reports, quoting the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“Urgent issues of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, the current situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the contact line were discussed,” the ministry said.

“The Minsk Group Co-Chairs are committed to seeking new solutions and implementing the existing ones towards the settlement of the Karabakh conflict,” Lavros said Sunday.

“I’m very glad for this opportunity to compare notes and see what else we can do in addition to the steps taken to achieve progress in the settlement process,” the Russian Foreign Minister said at the beginning of the meeting with the Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

“Every co-chairing country is committed to the process, be it a French, American or Russian initiative in this direction,” Minister Lavrov said.

The International Hrant Dink Award will be presented for the seventh time on Hrant Dink’s birthday, September 15.

 – As Europe’s refugee crisis unfolds, Armenia says it has hosted thousands of Syrians, particularly those from the Christian-Armenian community.

Since the start of the conflict, at least 15,000 Syrians have found refuge in Armenia, according to UNHCR figures.

The majority of these are descendents of Armenians who escaped the mass killings and deportations by the Ottoman Turks in 1915, and were given refuge in Syria.

At the time, Syria’s Deir Ezzor region became a major destination for Armenians subjected to death marches through the desert. But a century later, increasing numbers of Syrian Armenians are now driving to Beirut, where they board flights to Yerevan.

Before the conflict, the estimated number of ethnic Armenians in Syria was about 100,000. More than 60,000 of them settled in Aleppo, with smaller communities in Kessab, Qamishli, Yacubiyah, Kobane and Damascus.

Many in the Armenian diaspora consider Syrian-Armenians as their “mother community”.

The influx of Syrian refugees into Armenia started in 2012, when over 6,500 people fled. In 2013, the number of Syrian Armenians fleeing reached 11,000 and by August 2015, over 15,000 Armenians had been reported to be seeking asylum in Armenia.

For Syria’s ethnic Armenians, Armenia represents a safe choice – not only as an ancient homeland and predominantly Christian country – but also one with migration policies and repatriation programme that make it easy for them to settle.

The Armenian government has adopted “special measures” to help Syrian Armenians. It authorised consular offices in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon to issue citizenship and passports to Syrian Armenians free of charge.

But Armenia’s own economic woes mean that it struggles to provide accommodation and jobs for the newly-arrived Syrians. State assistance for Syrian Armenians covers mainly education, medical care and the provision of documents.

“We are concerned about the rental of accommodation; this is already a challenge to us. We have to turn to international and benevolent organisations for help because we will face a problem. The flow is too big, we cannot cope,” Firdus Zakaryan, an official from Armenia’s Ministry of Diaspora, said recently.

Armenian state officials insist that the plight of even the most impoverished refugees in Armenia pales in comparison with the four million displaced Syrians, many of whom struggle for life in camps and rundown urban areas of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

Within the framework of an official visit to the United Kingdom, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with Philip Hammond, UK Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs. The avenues for the expansion of cooperation in different spheres were discussed.

The Ministers referred to Armenia-EU relations, the steps toward creating new legal framework for cooperation.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the situation in the Middle East, the Syrian crisis and the ways of its resolution, the international community’s fight against terrorism and the agreements on Iran’s nuclear program.

Minister Nalbandian briefed his British counterpart on the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. In this context the Armenian FM expressed gratitude to for co-authoring the Resolution on the Prevention of Genocide submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in March.

Minister Nalbandin had a working dinner with UK’s Minister for Europe David Lidington. The parties referred to Armenian-British relations, Armenia-EU cooperation, the Ukrainian crisis and the ways of its settlement, and a number of other issues on international agenda.

The interlocutors discussed the ways of solving the regional conflicts. Minister Nalbandian presented the joint efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs toward the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. David Lidington assured of his country’s commitment to the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

Minister Nalbandian also gave an extended interview to the BBC.