Category: News

Ex-World Champion Arthur Abraham was received by Pope Francis in an audience at the Vatican.

“It had always been my dream to speak to the Pope one day,” Abraham said during the meeting.

The German-Armenian boxer handed his boxing gloves from the World Cup as a gift to the Pope. He also asked the Pontiff to bless his World Cup belt.

“I told the Pope about my career as a boxer and said I am very faithful. As a farewell, the Pope wished me all the best for my future life,” Abraham said after the meeting.

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

There is no “reset button” for mending ties with Russia, which will either improve or not, US President-elect Donald Trump said at a news conference in New York on Wednesday, TASS reports.

“Russia will have far greater respect for our country when I’m leading it and I believe and I hope maybe it won’t happen, it’s possible. But I won’t be giving a little reset button like Hillary. Here, press this piece of plastic. A guy looked at her like what is she doing? There’s no reset button. We’re either going to get along or we’re not. I hope we get along, but if we don’t, that’s possible too.” Trump said.

“Russia, China, Japan, Mexico, all countries will respect us far more, far more than they do under past administrations,” he claimed.

Speaking about hacking attacks, Trump said that the US had “to work something out.”

“It’s not just Russia,” he added. “Take a look at what’s happened. You don’t report it the same way; 22 million accounts were hacked in this country by China. And that’s because we have no defense.”

On January 12, 2017, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the direction of the NKR Martuni region, north-east of Ashaghy Veysali settlement.

From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by staff member of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Peter Svedberg (Sweden) and head of the OSCE High-Level Planning Group (HLPG) Colonel Hans Lampalzer (Austria). 

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Personal Assistant to the CiO Personal Representative Simon Tiller (Great Britain), Field Assistant to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria), and representative of the OSCE HLPG Major Cavit Elyas (Turkey).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered.

From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense.

As the Senate Foreign Relations Committee met to consider President-Elect Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Nominee Mr. Rex Tillerson, former ExxonMobil CEO, the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) highlighted key policy issues in a letter sent to Chairman Bob Corker (R-TN) and Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-MD).

“We need a Secretary of State committed to strengthening the permanent bonds between Armenia and the United States, two countries that share common values and beliefs, and who will see in Armenia, which remains an island of stability, a vital ally in the region,” Assembly Co-Chairs Anthony Barsamian and Van Krikorian said in their letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “United States-Armenia relations have been consistently characterized by friendship and reciprocity and an active Armenian American community strongly supports further expanding the United States partnership with the Republic of Armenia,” they added.

Assembly Co-Chairs highlighted several areas of concern, including Azerbaijan’s flagrant violations of the 1994/5 cease-fire agreement with respect to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, intentionally escalating the violence as pressure for Armenian concessions and launching a 4-day war last April.

“Such behavior makes it clear that Azerbaijan cannot be trusted to honor its commitments and must be held accountable for its egregious human rights violations,” the Co-Chairs said in the letter. “All Americans should be deeply troubled by…reports of Azerbaijan’s ISIS-inspired mutilations of civilians and beheadings of soldiers.”

“Now is the time to strengthen the OSCE process and ensure vigorous U.S. engagement to bring about a lasting and durable settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict that is agreeable to all parties, and based upon America’s founding commitment to the principles of democracy, rule of law, and self-determination,”  they continued.

Barsamian and Krikorian also noted the Assembly’s concerns with respect to Turkey’s more than 20-year blockade of Armenia and its ongoing campaign of genocide denial. “Within Turkey, its treatment of minority communities, repression of basic freedoms, ties to ISIS, and its ongoing failure to return confiscated Armenian churches as well as its continued denial of the Armenian Genocide remain troubling trends,” Co-Chairs Barsamian and Krikorian stated.

In his opening statement, Secretary of State Nominee Tillerson said that “Our approach to human rights begins by acknowledging that American leadership requires moral clarity. We do not face an ‘either or’ choice on defending global human rights. Our values are our interests when it comes to human rights and humanitarian assistance…But our leadership demands action specifically focused on improving the conditions of people the world over, utilizing both aid and economic sanctions as instruments of foreign policy when appropriate.”

Both Azerbaijan and Turkey have a history of human rights abuses, especially in recent reports by international organizations such as Human Rights Watch and the U.S. Helsinki Commission. America and its next Secretary of State need to uphold America’s core values and protect fundamental freedoms and human rights.

As the confirmation process continues, the Assembly will continue to advance key priorities and look for ways to further expand U.S.-Armenia relations.

 

 

 

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is interested in building a wind farm in Armenia’s Gegharkunik province.

UAE representatives visited the region about two years ago to study the power and direction of the wind, Governor of Gegharkunik province Rafik Grigoryan told .

He said they last visited the province in December and will return in March with the final calculations.

“According to preliminary agreement, they plan to build a wind farm with a capacity of 70 MW,” the Governmor said. He said another wind farm could be built in the border village of Aghavnadzor.

Rafik Grigoryan added that “investors in solar energy projects are also interested in certain areas in Gegharkunik province.”

The stabilization of oil prices has eased the direct and indirect economic and fiscal pressures on the nine rated sovereigns in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region. Still, the region’s overall credit outlook for 2017 is negative, driven by subdued economic recovery, external vulnerabilities in those countries with high foreign currency debt and the likelihood that political considerations will delay structural reforms that would bolster potential growth, said in a report.

In 2016, Moody’s took negative rating actions for five CIS sovereigns after slumping oil prices weighed on the credit profiles of major oil and gas exporters and had knock-on negative effects for the economies of many other sovereigns in the region.

“CIS governments managed the oil-price shock with increasingly orthodox policies, such as floating exchange rates and tight fiscal and monetary policies. These have mitigated the effects of the collapse in oil prices, and positioned most CIS countries for a modest economic turnaround in 2017,” said Kristin Lindow, a Moody’s Senior Vice President and co-author of the report. “However, the macroeconomic outlook remains weak, and downside credit risks still dominate.”

All CIS sovereigns should grow slightly faster in 2017 than in 2016. Moody’s forecasts median growth to rise to 2.0% in 2017 from 1.0% in 2016, and a further rise to 3.0% in 2018. Somewhat higher oil prices are likely to enable policymakers in oil-exporting countries to partially roll back fiscal and monetary policy tightening, and oil importers will benefit from a modest pickup in remittance inflows.

Moody’s projects that Russia, the largest economy by far among the nine countries, will record positive, albeit modest, real GDP growth of 1.0% in 2017 after two years of recession. This upturn will lift the broader region due to trade and financial linkages. Only Belarus is expected to shrink again in 2017.

Geopolitical conflicts also will continue to weigh on the CIS economies, mainly because of the impact of Western sanctions on Russia and the conflict in eastern Ukraine but also due to the flare-up of aggression between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Of the nine CIS sovereigns rated by Moody’s, only Belarus and Kazakhstan are not engaged in a military conflict or border dispute with a neighbor.

Longer-term, growth is expected to remain weak and a key constraint on sovereign ratings in the region. With aging populations (except in the Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Republic) and low productivity growth and absent the deep structural reforms that would overcome these trends, potential growth has dropped for most CIS sovereigns.

Those governments with greater fiscal resources and more flexible policies tend to be better positioned to address external vulnerabilities. Moreover, foreign currency inflows from oil and gas exports help cushion oil exporters after currencies have depreciated. Oil importers, on the other hand, remain more exposed because they also tend to have lower foreign exchange and fiscal reserves.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s remarkable scorpion kick for Manchester United against Sunderland has unsurprisingly taken a landslide victory in our latest Goal of the Month poll, according to United’s official webpage.

The instinctive, skilful finish, which sealed a 3-1 win over the Black Cats at Old Trafford on Boxing Day, claimed 79 per cent of fans’ votes on ManUtd.com, from a 10-goal shortlist.

After the game, Mkhitaryan admitted to MUTV it was “the best goal I’ve ever scored”, adding: “I was very excited. The first thing I did was look at the assistant and I saw it was not ruled offside so I just started to celebrate.

“I was expecting the ball to be in front of me and then I realised I was in front of it. As the ball was behind me, the only thing I could do was a backheel so I did that and I succeeded.”

In an unprecedented result, the playmaker also finished second and third in the voting, for his efforts against Zorya Luhansk (nine per cent) and Tottenham Hotspur (four per cent).

They were Mkhitaryan’s first three strikes in a United shirt and capped an impressive December for the Armenian, who also finished as runner-up to Zlatan Ibrahimovic for our Player of the Month award.

 

 

 

After the closure of the OSCE Office in Baku, the OSCE Office in Yerevan has been the only full-functioning representation in the region.

“The role of the office is valued by the OSCE presidency, the secretariat, other OSCE bodies, as well as the overwhelming majority of the participating states, except one” Spokesman for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tigran Balayan told .

He added that the OSCE acts on the basis of consensus decision-making. “Despite large-scale support, it has not yet reached consensus on the decision to extend the activities of the Yerevan Office,” Balayan said.

The Spokesman said the negotiations continue, and Armenia is a party to talks. He refrained from disclosing further details of the negotiations, saying it would be ‘inexpedient’ at this point.

– The co-leader of Germany’s Green Party Cem Özdemir—a German Member of Parliament of Turkish origin and one of the initiators of the Armenian Genocide resolution that was approved by Germany’s Parliament (Bundestag) on June 2, 2016—will be the keynote speaker at events in Toronto and Montreal, commemorating the 10^th anniversary of Turkish-Armenian editor, journalist, and columnist Hrant Dink’s assassination.

Several community organizations in Toronto have come together for the past 10 years to remember the former editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos and to honor his legacy.

Speaking to the Armenian Weekly, chair of the organizing committee Raffi Bedrosyan said that the commemorations are not merely a remembrance, but rather a way for the community to continue Dink’s pursuit for justice. “Remembering Hrant Dink on the anniversary of his assassination is not simply commemorating a slain Armenian journalist. By remembering, we continue his journey toward reconciliation and justice regarding the Armenian Genocide. We also help realize his vision of dialogue between Armenian and Turkish people—a dialogue that is based on truth and a common body of knowledge,” Bedrosyan said.

Many influential figures have attended commemorations in Toronto honoring Dink over the years, including Turkish-German scholar Taner Akçam; lawyer, writer, and human rights activist Fethiye Çetin; and prominent Turkish journalist and writer Hasan Cemal. “These people all share Hrant’s vision and break taboos in Turkey. They stand against the denial of the truth about the Armenian Genocide,” Bedrosyan explained.

Dink was assassinated outside of his Istanbul office on Jan. 19, 2007. He had written and spoken about the Armenian Genocide extensively, and was well known for his efforts for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians, as well as advocating for human and minority rights in Turkey. At the time of his murder, Dink was under prosecution for violating Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code and “denigrating Turkishness.” His assassination sparked huge national protests and outrage both in Turkey and internationally.

This year’s keynote Cem Özdemir was a leading force behind the German Parliament’s June 2016 resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and acknowledging German responsibility in not preventing the genocide committed by Ottoman Turkey—Germany’s WWI ally. Born in Bad Urach, West Germany, Özdemir is ethnically Turkish—his family emigrated from Turkey to Germany as “guest workers.”

Before introducing Ozdemir to audiences, Bedrosyan will present Wolfgang Gust’s book Armenian Genocide: Evidence from German Archives.  “He and his German parliamentarian colleagues were greatly influenced by the German historian’s book, which was financed by the Zoryan Institute of Toronto,” Bedrosyan said.

In his keynote addresses, Özdemir will explain Hrant’s role in his decision to get involved in the Armenian Genocide resolution, and his journey as one of the most prominent human rights advocates in Europe.

“These commemorations and—more critically—the German Armenian Genocide recognition resolution, demonstrate that the genocide issue is not a historical issue of the past; not just something that happened a hundred years ago. It is, indeed, a current issue, deeply affecting relations between different peoples and different states, sometimes with serious consequences,” Bedrosyan said.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan held a meeting with the Ambassadors accredited to Armenia, the heads and representatives of international organizations.

During the meeting reference was made to the activity of the Armenian government, the reforms agenda, the economic development programs, the measures and steps targeted at fighting corruption.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of periodic meetings with the diplomatic corps for raising the effectiveness of cooperation. He said the government is open to advice, criticism and offers.

Speaking about the forthcoming parliamentary elections, Karen Karaetyan said: “We expect new qualitative level from these elections. We are preparing to do the utmost to ensure the transparency of the voting.”

The Prime Minister said that over the past 10o days in office the government has been trying hard to reveal the existing problems and added that a report on the work done in the due period will be presented in the near future.

Karen Karapetyan revealed plans to ease the tax administration process and shift to an electronic system with a view of improving the investment climate and reducing the corruption risks. He said the government keeps the fight against corruption in the spotlight and pledged consistent steps to cut the corruption level.