Category: 2019

Bombay HC dismisses Armenian’s plea against deportation

Emil Lazarian
Times of India
Sept 28 2019

TNN | Sep 28, 2019, 11.29 AM IST

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday dismissed a 71-year-old Armenian woman’s petition to quash the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) notice asking her to leave the country for breaching visa condition and overstaying.

Ruzanna Petrosyan had challenged the August 8 notice to leave India within seven days or face forcible deportation. The notice stated that she had entered India on October 31, 2010, on a multiple entry visa, which was extended till January 15, 2018.

Petrosyan’s petition said she and her daughter, Susanna, first came to India on a tourist visa in 2004. They returned to India in February 2006. Her daughter married an Indian in 2007, but they divorced in 2016. Later she remarried. Petrosyan’s petition stated that she and Susanna applied for visa extension, but the FRRO “delayed granting it and gave false assurances”.

A bench of Justices Satyaranjan Dharmadhikari and Gautam Patel questioned how Petrosyan stayed in India after her visa expired, “What authority you, as a non-citizen, have after expiry of visa?” asked Justice Patel. Yadav said Petrosyan’s application for visa extension was pending consideration. He also pointed out that she is a single mother who is dependent on her daughter.



Centre’s advocate Parag Vyas informed the court that in October 2018, the ministry of home affairs had refused Petrosyan visa extension. “She will have to go back to Armenia and come back here on a new visa,” he said, adding that Susanna’s application too is pending. Vyas said since Petrosyan had changed her address, the FRRO could contact her only in May 2019, and give her the notice. The judges noted that Petrosyan changed her address six times, there was nothing on record to prove she had informed the FRRO about this and how she continued to reside in the city.


Declining to interfere, the judges, in their order, said: “To our mind, neither there is illegality or perversity in the impugned notice.” They declined to stay their order saying it will make a mockery of the Foreigners Act.



Dead body of child, 1, found in Armenia’s Vayk town

Alex Nanijanian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 28 2019
Dead body of child, 1, found in Armenia’s Vayk town Dead body of child, 1, found in Armenia’s Vayk town

22:18, 28.09.2019
                  

The corpse of a one-year-old child was discovered in Vayk town of Armnia’s Vayots Dzor province, Shamshyan reported.

The rescue team, as well as relatives of the child and residents of the city found the corpse of the one-year-old Aram T in the ditch of the first lane of the Jermuk highway.

Rescuers pulled out the child’s dead body and are currently awaiting the arrival at the scene of the investigators.

Materials are being prepared as a result of an incident.

India firms up moves against Turkey cosying up to Pakistan

Emil Lazarian
Times of India / Economic Times
Sept 28 2019
IANS|
Sep 28, 2019, 01.29 PM IST

      

PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades after his UN General Assembly speech.

NEW YORK: Even as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was openly cosying up to Pakistan against India at the UNGA, New Delhi has been quietly cementing its ties with three of Ankaras close neighbours and strong rivals – Cyprus, Armenia and Greece.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades after his UN General Assembly speech, during which the former “reiterated India’s consistent support for the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of the Republic of Cyprus”.

India’s statement was significant as the east Mediterranean island was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974, with Ankara occupying the northern part.

Turkey established the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which marked the beginning of a long military standoff between the two sides.

The TRNC lacks international recognition, and has diplomatic ties with only Turkey. Erdogan has also refused to withdraw over 30,000 troops stationed in northern Cyprus.

Modi also met Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday.

Following the meeting, Modi tweeted: “Had the opportunity to interact with the PM of Greece, @kmitsotakis. India-Greece relations have stood the test of time. We will work to enhance trade as well as people-to-people relations for the benefit of our citizens.”

Both leaders reviewed the state of bilateral relations and discussed steps to intensify political, economic and people to people exchanges.

Turkey and Greece have long had strained ties, and were close to military conflict over the Greek islets of Imia in 1996, before the US stepped in to avert disaster. The uninhabited islets in the Aegean Sea, known as Kardak islets, or Imia in Greece, have been the subject of much friction between the two sides.

Greece and Turkey are also in a spat over Ankara threatening to explore for hydrocarbons in areas Greece claims as its own continental shelf.

Though Greece is smaller in size to Turkey, it spends a formidable amount of its budget on defence spending – seventh in the world at $1,230 per capita – and whose fighter pilots regularly engage in mock dogfights with invading Turkish jets.

Modi also met his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinyan, whose country shares a border with Turkey with whom relations have been rocky.

Armenians have not been able to forgive the genocide of millions of its nationals by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire in 1915. The Turkish government has denied that a genocide ever took place.

“Had extensive deliberations with PM @NikolPashinyan. We talked about expanding India-Armenia cooperation in aspects relating to technology, pharmaceuticals and agro-based industries. PM Pashinyan also referred to the popularity of Indian movies, music and Yoga in Armenia,” Modi tweeted on Thursday.

Earlier this year, the Armenian Parliament Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan described Armenia and Cyprus as “true friends” that share the common goal of containing Turkey.

The Foreign Ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Armenia also held their first-ever trilateral meeting in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia in June.

In his UNGA speech, Anastasiades said “Cyprus remains the last European divided country”.

He also accused Turkey of violating the sovereign rights of Cyprus in its internationally recognised exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf.

The Greek Prime Minister in his UNGA speech slammed Turkey’s “gunboat diplomacy” saying it undermines prospects to resolve the Cyprus issue.

“Turkey’s illegal drilling activities undermine efforts to restart negotiations and dangerously escalate tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean,” he said.

The Armenian Prime Minister also slammed Turkey in his UNGA speech for “refusing to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, overtly assisting Azerbaijan against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh” and termed Turkey “a serious security threat to Armenia and the Armenian people who had experienced the deep tragedy of the Genocide and continue to face the fierce denial of truth and justice”.

In view of the deep animosity the three countries share with Turkey, Modi’s meetings with the leaders assumes significance, and is an apparent move to counter Ankara’s moves to side with Islamabad against India.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-firms-up-moves-against-turkey-cosying-up-to-pak/articleshow/71347823.cms

Sports: 14 players from foreign clubs called up to national team ahead of Euro-2020 qualification matches

Hambik Zargarian
Panorama, Armenia
Sept 28 2019
Sport 11:37 28/09/2019 Armenia

Armenian national team will play Euro-2020 qualification round matchday 7 and 8 matches on October 12 and 15 against Liechtenstein and Finland respectively. Head coach of Armenian national team Armen Gyulbudaghyants has already announced the list of players from foreign clubs.

After a break, Ararat Monroe, from Boyaca Chico has been invited to the national team, while defender Kamo Hovhannisyan from Zhetysu (Kazakhstan) will miss the matches due to injury.

Among other players playing for foreign clubs invitations have been sent to Rumyan Hovsepyan, Arda (Bulgaria), Henrikh Mkhitaryan, AS Roma (Italy), Gevorg Ghazaryan, AEL Limassol (Cyprus), Macros Pizelli, FC Aktobe (Kazakhstan), Sargis Adamyan, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (Germany), Tigran Barseghyan, FC Kaisar (Kazakhstan), Edgar Babayan, Hobro IK (Denmark), Alexander Karapetyan, Sochi (Russia). 

New weapons being designed for Armenia army

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 27 2019
New weapons being designed for Armenia army New weapons being designed for Armenia army

13:04, 27.09.2019
                  

Self-operating combat modules may one day replace real soldiers.

A company’s respective designs, including a self-operating combat module—a machine gun, were introduced within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) “Ararat-Anti-terror 2019” joint antiterrorism military exercises that were conducted in Armenia.

“It’s a fully self-operating combat module which itself seeks out targets, finds and transfers [them] to the operator from long distance,” Arman Khachatryan, the co-founder of this company, told reporters. “The decision is made by the operator.”

As per Khachatryan, their second such machine gun option rises from below the ground.

“It’s designed to be installed next to the trench,” he noted. “The cover opens, rises 40 centimeters, plays the role of an automatic soldier; this option is suitable when the target is already known.”

According to Arman Khachatryan, the third option is another machine gun which is still under development, and yet another development—upgrading of a zenith machine-gun device—is being designed for air defense forces.

Conference on Armenia 2019-2023 judicial, legal reforms strategy kicks off

Albert Nalbandian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 27 2019
Conference on Armenia 2019-2023 judicial, legal reforms strategy kicks off Conference on Armenia 2019-2023 judicial, legal reforms strategy kicks off

10:08, 27.09.2019

YEREVAN. – A conference, entitled “2019-2023 RA Judicial and Legal Reforms Strategy in the Context of Increasing Public Trust,” is held Friday in Yerevan, the capital city of the Republic of Armenia (RA).

The Minister of Justice, Rustam Badasyan, delivered opening remarks at this event.

Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin, head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia, Supreme Judicial Council chairman Ruben Vardazaryan, and several others will also address the conference.

Swiss specialists help digitize the Public Radio of Armenia archive

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 27 2019

The Public Radio of Armenia and the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation in Armenia have signed a protocol summing up the program of technical cooperation.

The document was signed by Garegin Khumaryan, Executive Director of Public Radio of Armenia, and H.E. Mr. Stefano Lazzarotto, Swiss Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia.

Within the framework of the program, specialists from Switzerland have tuned and repaired the Studer tape recorders used for digitizing the funds of the Public Radio.

The Public Radio possesses six such recorders, of which three were out of order.  Although the best in the world, the recorders have long been out of production and have therefore not been supported.

All of the six recorders are now in perfect condition thanks to the efforts of Swiss specialists, which, in turn, doubles the efficiency of digitization efforts.

The Public Radio Fund now holds over 150,000 hours of music, programs and radio performances.

The archive materials are not only in Armenian and Russia, but also in Kurdish, Yezidi, Azerbaijani and Arabic. The digitized archive is available on armradioarchive.am.

A technical cooperation program summary was signed between the RA Public Radio and the Embassy of Switzerland in Armenia

Former chief of Armenia’s police Alik Sargsyan describes accusations against him “made-up composition not relating to him”

Emil Lazarian
Aysor, Armenia
Sept 27 2019

Former chief of Armenia’s police Alik Sargsyan does not admit the accuisations brought against him.

“There are no accusations there, it is a composition, a made-up composition, a very long composition to dump into water the 40-year long work to make a one-minute show, to show it on TV, to discredit,” Alik Sargsyan told Aysor.am, saying that the case will end in this way and nothing else will happen.

The former chief of the police stressed that this case cannot have “the result they dream of.”

“I have no connection with anything, naturally, I do not admit the accusation and let them even not dream that I am a soft fruit to play with,” he said.

Sargsyan said he currently keeps silence and waits.

“I will wait for the further developments. I know how it will end, the people will see it too,” he said.

The former chief of the police said he was invited to the Special Investigation Service but not for interrogation.

“They summoned me and immediately involved as a defendant in the sidelines of the criminal case. They summoned me for the second time to write an explanatory for a nonsense,” Alik Sargsyan said.

He stated that he has no relation with the composition-accusation.

“It is formulated in a very beautiful way, it is a row of long articles. They took a signature on not leaving the country,” he said, adding that they have selected a wrong addressee.

“I will tell just one thing, let the people, my friends know that it has no relation to me. I am ready to everything,” he said.

The former chief of the police is charged under three articles of the criminal code – abuse of power, falsification, covering crime.

CC member clarification: Why were Armenian versions of VC and ECHR statements without signatures?

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia
Sept 27 2019
CC member clarification: Why were Armenian versions of VC and ECHR statements without signatures? CC member clarification: Why were Armenian versions of VC and ECHR statements without signatures?

14:32, 27.09.2019

The Armenian versions of the Constitutional Court’s statements submitted to the Parliament, sent to the Venice Commission and the ECHR, maybe were not signed due to the fact that the signatures were in English versions, CC member Alvina Gyulumyan told reporters on Friday.

“The text can be translated into Armenian and attached to the documents as an official translation. The English version, which was sent to the VC and the ECHR, was naturally signed,” she said.

To the question of whether the document sent to the National Assembly really is considered to have legal force, she noted: “The decision by which it was decided to apply to the structures and the proposed issues were outlined has legal force. This decision of the Constitutional Court is posted on the court’s website, this is a procedural decision,” she said.

To the remark that the National Assembly suspects that this document was by no means drawn up by the Constitutional Court, that the members of the Constitutional Court were not aware of all this, Gyulumyan noted: “Personally, I was aware. Everything can be said, but it’s hard to imagine the rationale.”

Message For Turkey? Modi Meets Leaders Of Armenia, Cyprus After Erdoğan’s Pro-Pakistan UN Speech On Kashmir

Garnik Zakarian
Swarajya, India
Sept 27 2019
by Swarajya Staff – Sep 27 2019, 1:50 pm,
Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades (L) with PM Narendra Modi (R).

On the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly in New York, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, as well as Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in two separate meetings.

This comes at a time when Turkish President Recep Erdoğan has taken an increasingly pro-Pakistan position on the Kashmir issue, aligning his country’s stance on the same with the talking points used by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to whip up anti-India sentiment and separatism.

Most recently, Erdoğan brought up Kashmir during his UN General Assembly speech as well, making statements widely seen to be aiding Pakistan’s aim of internationalising the issue.

Modi’s decision to meet with the leaders of Armenia and Cyprus may be interpreted to be a hint to Erdoğan that if he keeps pushing his country towards a pro-Pakistan stance, then India will respond.

Both Cyprus and Armenia are neighbouring countries of Turkey and have had strained relations historically. Armenians accuse Turkey of playing down the mass killings of Armenians during the early 20th century in the Ottoman Empire/Republic of Turkey.

In 1974 Cyprus was invaded by Turkey and violently partitioned between a Turkish Cypriot controlled Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island controlled by Greek Cypriots, with the latter being recognised by the international community.