Category: News

Turkey’s AK party faces a challenge to form a government after losing its majority at a general election for the first time in 13 years, the BBC reports.

It secured 41%, a sharp drop from 2011, when it won nearly half of the vote.

Under Turkey’s proportional representation system, this means the AKP will need to form a coalition or face entering a minority government.

The pro-Kurdish HDP crossed the 10% threshold, securing seats in parliament for the first time.

The result is a blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to boost his office’s powers.

Speaking from the balcony of the AKP headquarters in Ankara Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: “The winner of the election is again the AKP, there’s no doubt.”

But he added: “Our people’s decision is final. It’s above everything and we will act in line with it.”

On June 6, President Serzh Sargsyan received French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin in Cannes. RA Culture Minister Hasmik Poghosyan also participated in the meeting. Issues were discussed related to cultural cooperation between Armenia and France.

President Serzh Sargsyan expressed his satisfaction with the concert of the Armenian World Orchestra which took place in April at the Théâtre du Châtelet. Serzh Sargsyan expressed the hope that the temporary orchestra of the world’s best musicians of Armenian descent will continue with concerts aimed at commemorating the Armenian Genocide victims and paying tribute to their memory.

The Armenian side offered to open an exhibition of Armenian surrealist painters in France. It also offered to continue with Armenian-French film co-production, the best examples of which are the films by Robert Guédiguian. The parties agreed to organize a festival which will feature co-produced movies.

The Armenian and French culture ministers reported to the RA president on their intention to promote collaboration on the above-mentioned issues.

Turkey’s Christian minority will be represented in the Turkish parliament in greater number after a long absence as four members of the community will become deputies after the June 7 elections, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The results of the parliamentary election, one of the most critical and closely fought in years, ended the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) 13-year one-party rule, while also propelling four members of the Christian minority to the legislature.

Markar Esayan, an Armenian-Turkish journalist for the pro-AKP daily Yeni Şafak, entered the parliament on an AKP ticket as the 12th candidate from Istanbul’s second election area.

Selina Doğan, from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), was elected as the first deputy candidate from the second election area of the CHP’s Istanbul list. Doğan, who is of Armenian origin, practices law as an attorney.

CHP head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said while introducing Doğan as a candidate that her candidacy was an important message for the world.

“We do not want division in this society. We want to grow and develop together,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in early April.

Two Christians will also enter parliament from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) ticket, one from Istanbul and the other from the southeastern province of Mardin.

Garo Paylan, who ran for parliament as the second nominee from the HDP’s third election area in Istanbul, holds Armenian roots and is listed as a trainer on the Supreme Election Board (YSK) candidate list.

Erol Dora, who is a member of Turkey’s Syriac community and a lawyer, was the HDP’s third deputy candidate from Mardin and an incumbent in the legislature.

In addition to the four Christians, two members of Turkey’s small Yazidi community were also elected for the HDP – Feleknas Uca from Diyarbakır and Ali Atalan from Batman.

Spanish police have seized €45,000 from Cristiano Ronaldo’s mother after she tried to leave the country without declaring the cash, the reports.

Dolores Aveiro was stopped at Madrid Airport and forced to hand the money over after Civil Guard officers discovered the fortune in her hand luggage, leading Spanish daily El Mundo claimed today.

The newspaper said the mother-of-four, who lives between her native Madeira and Madrid, had the cash confiscated in mid-May after being unable to prove its origin.

Ms Aveiro, who helps Ronaldo raise his four-year-old son Cristiano Jr, is said to have been allowed to fly to Portugal with the remaining €10,000 she was carrying.

Travellers entering or leaving Spain with more than €10,000 in cash or cash equivalents have to declare the money under a new anti-money laundering and tax evasion law introduced in 2007.

The declaration has to be made in writing using a form which can be downloaded from the Internet or obtained from Treasury and customs offices.

Cash seized from those who breach the rules is held until they can prove its origin and pay a fine.

Ronaldo’s mother was not arrested and simply detained for a few minutes before being allowed to continue her journey, El Mundo reported.

The breach was described as an ‘administrative error’ rather than a crime.

Russia hopes the UN General Assmebly will give an observe’s status to the Eurasian Economic Union at the 70th session, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after a meeting with his Belarussian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

“We hope that the Eurasian Economic Union will be granted observer’s status at the 70^th session of the General Assembly in September, Lavrov said. “We are working with our partners to promote such a resolution at the UN. Organizations such as CIS, SCTO, the Arab League, the European Union hold a similar status at the UN.

Lavrov said also that the EU is getting more interested in signals coming from the Eurasian Union.

 

 

 

The German Bundestag is expected to hold a final discussion on the Armenian Genocide bill and put in on a vote before the summer break by the second half of July, historian Ashot Hayruni told reporters today.

It’s not yet clear what will be the final shape of the resolution, considering the constant pressure on the part of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turks living and working  in Germany. As an example he reminded that a German MP recently quit his party because of his party recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

According to Hayruni, the bill pending at the Bundestag is more favorable than the one adopted in 2005. The current document clearly mentions that what happened to Armenians in 1915 was an example of genocide.

He added, however, that the bill is not 100 percent acceptable. It includes “dark” points, which the Armenian diplomatic corps should work to edit. As for the positive sides of the bill, they range from the preservation of the Armenian cultural heritage to the contribution to Armenian-Turkish dialogue.

 

 

 

Political crisis awaits Turkey as the ruling Justice and Development Party has failed to win the majority, while the rest of the parties will not form coalition either with Erdogan or with each other, expert of Turkish studies Hakob Chakryan told reporters today.

Hakob Chakryan said it was important for the People’s Democratic Party to cross the threshold of 10 percent. Had it received less than 10 percent of the ballot, the votes would add up to those of Erdogan’s party. The latter would thus be able to change the Constitution and make Turkey a presidential republic.

The dreams vanished as the ruling party even failed to make a simple majority, the expert said. According to him, the perspectives are dim, as the four parties to be represented in the 500-seat parliament are unlikely to form a coalition.

“None of the opposition parties is willing to form a coalition with the Justice and Development party. Neither do they want to form a coalition with each other. Therefore, political crisis is awaiting Turkey. Even yesterday, there were already talks about snap elections. That means the situation is not that good,” Chakryan said.

As for the three Armenians to be represented in the Turkish Parliament, the expert said “they cannot play any positive role for the Armenian Cause.”

“If they at least manage to defend the interests of the Turkish Armenian communty, that will be positive,” he said.

Seven people died as a result of a road accident on the 10^th kilometer of the Tashir-Stepanavan highway.

The Volkswagen Tuareg went off the road shortly after midnight, hit a tree and caught on fire.

The victims of the accident were residents of Tashir city and were identified as Vanik Mardoyan, Karen Khachatryan, Gevorg Poghosyan, Arman Tonoyan, Gaspar Ghukeyan, Vahag Albertyan (all from Tashir city) and Arthur Balyan from Yerevan.

A criminal case has been launched at the Lori branch of the Investigative Committee. Probe into the details of the case is under way.

Tamar Kaprelian — one-sixth of Armenia’s Genealogy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 — has won Wiwibloggs’ search for Eurovision’s Next Top Model 2015.

After collecting more than 140,000 votes in the semi finals and final, Wiwibloggs has announced the winner.

In a video Tamar thanks her fans for their support, and reminds  that her new EP “Yours to Keep” is available on iTunes now.

The Lost Origin Sounds Series has released “Forty Martyrs: Armenian Chants from Aleppo at the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, the bloody Ottoman campaign that drove many Armenians to the centuries-old community in Aleppo,  reports.

The  video Forty Martyrs: Armenian Chanting from Aleppo presents a unique new recording of sacred Armenian music.

In one of Aleppo’s oldest neighborhoods rests a church, once a focal point and a haven. The head priest there, The Very Reverend Yeznig Zegchanian, agreed to chant, but he was going to do it now and he was only going to do it once. Jason Hamacher, a drummer from Washington DC who had developed a serious fascination with Syria’s endangered spiritual traditions, dashed back to his hotel to get his equipment.

The result, recorded in the resonant Forty Martyrs Armenian Orthodox Church, captures a time, place, and endangered language. The city is entrapped in Syria’s agonizing civil war. The church’s congregants, descendants of several waves of Armenian refugees, have been scattered throughout the region and beyond. The language of the chants, West Armenian, once spoken in what is now Turkey, seems destined to die out in a generation.