Author: Toneyan Mark

A Turkish nationalist politician has been jailed over controversial remarks suggesting “hunting for Armenians” after a concert last year by a renowned Armenian pianist in the ancient city of Ani in the eastern province of Kars, the reports.

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Garo Paylan had filed a lawsuit against Tolga Adıgüzel, the Kars provincial head of the “Idealist Hearths” (Ülkü Ocakları), which has organic ties to the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), after Adıgüzel suggested “going out to hunt Armenians in the streets of Kars” as a counter-move after the concert.

The Kars third criminal court of first instance initially sentenced Adıgüzel to six months in prison, along with a pecuniary punishment of 11,240 Turkish Liras (about $3,800) on May 25 on charges of “overtly insulting some segments of the public based on difference of social class, race, religion, sect, sexuality or region.” The court then increased the sentence to seven months and fifteen days as the crime was committed via the media, which carries a heavier sentence.

Paylan described the court ruling as “hopeful” both for Armenians and for all parts of society in Turkey that believe in social peace and justice, vowing to fight against “all kinds of racist remarks and hate speech.”

World-renowned Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan and the Yereven State Chamber Coir gave a concert at Ani, on the Turkish border with Armenia, on June 21, 2015.

After the concert, Adıgüzel issued a press statement “strongly” condemning the performance, questioning its “aims,” and accusing its supporters of “treason.”

“Should we go out for hunting for Armenians in the streets of Kars? Can we give a concert at a place that they consider holy, or march our janissary band?” he had said.

The Armenian national team has arrived in Los Angeles, Press Service of the Football Federation of Armenia reports.

The Armenian national team will play two friendlies in teh United States. The team will face Guatemala on May 28 and El Salvador – on June 1.

24 players have been called up to for the friendlies.

Goalkeepers

Arsen Beglaryan FC Mika
Anatoly Ayvazov FC Pyunik
Gor Manukyan FC Pyunik

Defenders

Gael Andonian Dijon FCO, (France)
Hovhannes Hambardzumyan FK Vardar (FYR Macedonia)
Varazdat Haroyan FC Pyunik
Taron Voskanyan FC Pyunik
Kamo Hovhannisyan FC Pyunik
Levon Airapetian FC Pyunik
Segey Avagimyan FC Ararat
Artak Edigaryan FC Alashkert

Midfielders

Henrikh Mkhitaryan Borussia (Dortmund, Germany)
Marcos Pizzelli Al Raed (Saudi Arabia)
Aras Ozbiliz, Rayo Vallecano (Spain)
Gor Malakyan, Stal (Ukraine)
David Manoyan FC Pyunik
David Hakobyan FC Shirak
Tigran Barseghyan FC Gandzasar-Kapan
Benik Hovhannisyan FC Ararat
Zaven Badoyan FC Banants

Forwards

Edgar Manucharyan FC Ural (Russia)
Artur Sarkisov, FC Volga (Russia)
Gegham Kadimyan Karpaty (Ukraine)
Vardan Poghosyan FC Pyunik

The Human Rights Defender of Nagorno Karabakh, Ruben Melikyan, has addressed an open letter to organizers of Eurovision Song Contest 2016:

Dear ladies and gentlemen of the EBU and the Reference Group,

My name is Ruben Melikyan. I am the elected Human Rights Defender of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), a democracy located between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. I should proudly and humbly protect the freedom and human rights of the Nagorno-Karabakh people, approximately 150 000 peaceful civilians — men, women, children and elderly — all living between two European countries. I am a European, whose country is denied access to the European community and whose flag has found itself amidst anger, fear, embarrassment, shame, and most importantly, apathy. This resulted in your official statement of May 11 of 2016.

First of all, on behalf of the people of Karabakh, I would like to express my strong disagreement with your statement’s language that described the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a mere territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We, the people of the NKR, have been exercising our fundamental and undeniable right to self-determination since 1991 by declaring and defending our independence from Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. It was done in full conformity with International Law and then-applicable Soviet Constitutional Law. Thus, your description of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is inaccurate and offensive to my people, and adds injury to an insult.

Secondly, I would like to kindly draw your attention to the events of April 2-5, 2016, which probably determined the song contestant’s very understandable personal motivation to exhibit the NKR National flag.

I’d also like to kindly draw your attention to the facts, well-documented in the Interim Public Report of the NKR Human Rights Defender, recording all the atrocities and violations committed by Azerbaijani military forces from April 2 to April 5 of 2016.
We documented beheadings that happened in Europe, murders and dismemberments of elderlies that happened in Europe, intensive shelling of schools and dwellings that happened in Europe just 40 days ago. And as a responsible European, who cares about European values and seeks democracy and peace, the song contestant merely called for peace and unity amidst these barbaric atrocities by exhibiting the flag of the NKR, for the people who have lost their lives, just 40 days ago, on a land that is our home. Nevertheless, you threatened to sanction the participant, silencing an adequate and humble expression of her freedom of speech.
Europe is united over the values of fundamental human rights, and at the core of these values is freedom of speech. As the subject of the speech is of extraordinary importance, there should not be any restriction whatsoever for freedom of expression. ISIS-style beheadings and other terrible war crimes of Azerbaijani armed forces were committed just 40 days ago, and Azerbaijan is threatening openly to repeat them if my people do not obey the rule of Azerbaijani Republic, a country with state-fueled policy of Armenophobia.

Ladies and gentlemen,
These circumstances can be named no other way but extraordinary. Accordingly your statement on enforcement of your Rule 1.2.2h can be named no other way but an overreaction to a mere reminder of the situation by a mere exhibition of a National Flag.

I kindly call for your conscious as Europeans to remember the fundamental values of Europe, incorporated in the teachings of John Locke, Voltaire, Kant, and not of the likes of Hitler and Mussolini. I kindly call upon you to take the side of peace and unity. And finally I kindly ask you to remain in the framework of the Song Contest format and to not enter the field of international politics.

The losses of the Azerbaijani side in the recent clashed along the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact are estimated to exceed 800, OSTKRAFT analytical center reports, quoting sources at the Azerbaijani General Staff.

According to the report, it was the great number of losses that made Azerbaijan stop the aggression and return to the negotiating table.

“Judging from this data, the words of Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia about the readiness of his country to solve the Karabakh issue in a military way look deeply untenable, as Azerbaijan has neither power, not means for that,” the analysis says.

According to the report, the only thing Azerbaijan provoked with its unreasonable actions is the possible recognition of Nagorno Karabakh by Armenia.

– First Secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDP) Thomas Oppermann said, “On June 2, Bundestag will make a decision recognizing the mass killing of Armenians during World War I as genocide.”

First Secretary of SDP Thomas Oppermann said that he wants “the motion concerning the mass killing of Armenians in 1915”, which was put on the agenda long ago, to be accepted despite Turkey’s objections. According to Deutsche Welle, Oppermann spoke to Tagesspiel and said, “On June 2, Bundestag will make a decision recognizing the mass killing and deportation of Armenians during World War I as genocide.” He also stated that Turkey’s possible reactions shouldn’t be an obstacle to this step.

“Unnecessary sensitivity should be avoided”

Mentioning the comedian Böhmermann crisis, Oppermann said, “It was Angela Merkel’s mistake to allow for prosecution, though her coalition partner SPD objected to it.” Noting that the same mistakes shouldn’t be made, Oppermann stated: “This is exactly why we should avoid displaying unnecessary sensitivity to Turkey about the recognition of the genocide.”
According to Der Spiegel, the parliamentary groups of Christian Union Parties CDU/CSU and SDP prevented the draft resolution that recognizes the genocide. In the news report, it is stated that second and third readings of the resolution were dragged out for a long time.

In Germany, President Joachim Gauck and President of the Bundestag Norbert Lammert used the word “genocide” in their genocide’s 100th anniversary speeches, but Bundestag hasn’t used the word “genocide” for now.

The Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office hasruled out the possibility that the explosion in a bust was caused by a terrorist attack.

Probe is under way to check all versions and reveal the causes of the explosion.

The law-enforcement bodies will provide additional information about the process of investigation.

As for now, the version of terrorism has been completed rejected, the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.

US President Barack Obama on Friday marked the anniversary of the Ottoman Turks’ massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915, but once again stopped short of labeling it a genocide. The statement released by the White House reads:

“Today we solemnly reflect on the first mass atrocity of the 20th century—the Armenian Meds Yeghern—when one and a half million Armenian people were deported, massacred, and marched to their deaths in the final days of the Ottoman empire.

As we honor the memory of those who suffered during the dark days beginning in 1915—and commit to learn from this tragedy so it may never be repeated—we also pay tribute to those who sought to come to their aid.  One such individual was U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Sr., who voiced alarm both within the U.S. government and with Ottoman leaders in an attempt to halt the violence.  Voices like Morgenthau’s continue to be essential to the mission of atrocity prevention, and his legacy shaped the later work of human rights champions such as Raphael Lemkin, who helped bring about the first United Nations human rights treaty.

This is also a moment to acknowledge the remarkable resiliency of the Armenian people and their tremendous contributions both to the international community as well as to American society. We recall the thousands of Armenian refugees who decades ago began new lives in the United States, forming a community that has enormously advanced the vitality of this nation and risen to prominence and distinction across a wide range of endeavors.   At a moment of regional turmoil to Armenia’s south, we also thank the people of Armenia for opening their arms to Syrian refugees, welcoming nearly 17,000 into their country.

As we look from the past to the future, we continue to underscore the importance of historical remembrance as a tool of prevention, as we call for a full, frank, and just acknowledgment of the facts, which would serve the interests of all concerned.  I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view has not changed. I have also seen that peoples and nations grow stronger, and build a foundation for a more just and tolerant future, by acknowledging and reckoning with painful elements of the past.  We continue to welcome the expression of views by those who have sought to shed new light into the darkness of the past, from Turkish and Armenian historians to Pope Francis.‎

Today we stand with the Armenian people throughout the world in recalling the horror of the Meds Yeghern and reaffirm our ongoing commitment to a democratic, peaceful, and prosperous Armenia.”

Tigran Hamasyan has been named winners of .

Tigran Hamasyan was named International Instrumentalist of the Year, Piano, for his Nonesuch Records debut album, Mockroot.

The ECHO Jazz awards are conferred by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie (German Recording Academy), akin to the Grammy Awards in the United States.

The organization has handed out the ECHO Music awards annually since 1992 and the ECHO Classic awards since 1994. The ECHO Jazz prizes are the latest addition, having launched in 2010, when Bill Frisell received the inaugural award for International Instrumentalist of the Year, Guitar.

The ECHO Jazz 2016 Awards ceremony will take place at Kampnagel in Hamburg on Thursday, May 26.

More than 7,000 polling stations opened in Syria at 07:00 local time today amid tight security measures.

The elections are held in 13 out of 15 provinces. Raqqa and Idlib provinces are the exception as they are controlled by gunmen from Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra. Refugees from these two regions will have a possibility to vote at places of their temporary domicile.

The election to the People’s Council of Syria takes place on the multi-party basis in accordance with the constitution adopted at the referendum on 26 February 2012. Syria’s parliament consists of 250 members elected for a four-year term through universal, direct and secret ballot voting.