Category: News

On 7 December in connection with the 28th anniversary of the Spitak Earthquake Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan accompanied by top officials of the country visited the Stepanakert Memorial Complex and laid a wreath to the monument of innocent victims of the natural disaster, NKR President’s Press Service reports.

“President Obama and his Administration, as have past administrations, have repeatedly mourned and acknowledged that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths in the final days of the Ottoman Empire,” Spokesperson for the US Department of State Mark Toner told a daily briefing.

“We also called for a full and frank acknowledgement of the facts of what happened around those deaths. And that remains our policy. I don’t want to get into terminology or how we referred to it. We acknowledged that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred, as I said, and we want to see a full historical accounting of those events,” the Spokesman said.

The comments come after UN Ambassador at an event honoring the Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel’s life and work.

Statement by Edward Nalbandian, Foreign Minister of Armenia at the Open Government Partnership Summit 2016

Excellences,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Armenia thanks the Government of France for its efforts towards advancing the agenda of Open Government Partnership (OGP) and for the extended hospitality. Our appreciation also goes to the civil society Co-Chair – the World Resources Institute. The Summit is an opportunity to galvanize our engagement in OGP initiative promoting fundamental values necessary for the inclusive and sustainable development of our societies.

Between 2011 and 2016, in line with two Action Plans Armenia implemented tangible reforms in major sectors such as the law-making activities, public procurement, access to and freedom of information, healthcare, education, local self-governance, mining industry. Through the implementation of more than 20 commitments targeted actions have been undertaken to meet main OGP challenges on improving public services, ensuring effective management of public resources, promotion of public confidence.

The cutting-edge tools, such as crowdsourcing and co-design were widely used in the drafting process of Armenia’s Open government partnership Third Action Plan (2016-2018). Government officials came together with Civil Society Organizations, experts and private sector partners to discuss and elaborate the suggested action plan commitments.

Most of the declared Summit priorities including on transparency and anti-corruption, sustainable development and climate change are included in our new Action Plan. Armenia joined other states in singing Paris Agreement on climate change. The Government of Armenia provided its final national progress report on the Millennium Development Goals. The roadmap for national implementation the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been drafted. All these processes have been done in an inclusive manner based on multi-stakeholder public discussions.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Armenia continues its efforts aimed at consolidating democratic institutions, strengthening the rule of law, national mechanisms for the protection and promotion of human rights and in this regard sustains strong partnership with the international organizations and initiatives. Last December by the nation-wide referendum Armenia adopted amendments to the Constitution aimed at improving the governance system with increased transparency and accountability. It was followed by the adoption of a new Electoral Code to meet the necessary legal changes in line with the requirements of the amended Constitution. It is noteworthy that both the Constitutional reform and the new Electoral Code have received positive feedbacks from our international partner organizations. To further strengthen the public trust in the election process the Government accepted the proposal coming from the opposition and the discussions on the draft Code were held with the involvement of all parliamentary political factions and civil society representatives.

In Armenia, we have vibrant civil society, which is an indicator of our growing democracy, and an integral part of Armenia’s public life with increasing participation in and contribution to the effective governance. The presence of our Civil Society Organizations among Summit participants, including among members of our OGP National Working Group, is the best illustration for that.

It is noteworthy that at the last global summit of Open Government Partnership, Armenia received a top award and was recognized as a leader in our region for increased efficiency in the activities of its local self-governance authorities and improved public services based on the principles of open governance. Our Civil Society Organizations awarded the Armenian government for advancing freedom of information and joining the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are cognizant that challenges remain. Our new Action Plan is aimed at exploring new tools to directly connect to the society, to mainstream the Open Government Partnership principles in all domains of governance, and to apply human-centered approaches in policymaking. With this in mind, we are looking forward to work hand in hand with all partners to achieve the objectives of Open government partnership.

Thank you.

Jose Mourinho has named a 19-man travelling squad for Manchester United’s final Europa League group match, away to Zorya Luhansk, Manchester United’s official website informs. 

The Reds flew out to Odessa on Wednesday morning ahead of Thursday’s last match in Group A, knowing a point will secure a place in the Round of 32 knock-out stages.

Wayne Rooney, who became the club’s top European scorer in our last Europa League match, was back in the squad after being forced to sit out Sunday’s draw at Everton due to a domestic suspension, and Eric Bailly has also travelled after he was named on the bench at Goodison Park following his recovery from a knee injury.

Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw remain unavailable as they recover from injury, while Bastian Schweinsteiger is ineligible as he was not registered in United’s initial Europa League squad.

Michael Carrick, Matteo Darmian, Antonio Valencia, Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin have also not travelled, but Mourinho certainly has good options at his disposal for the away match in Ukraine.

Travelling squad: De Gea, Romero, Johnstone; Fosu-Mensah, Jones, Bailly, Rojo, Blind, Young; Fellaini, Herrera, Pogba, Lingard, Mata, Mkhitaryan; Martial, Rashford, Rooney, Ibrahimovic.

“Earthquake” proves an earnest, deeply felt drama set against the 1988 calamity that devastated a large swath of northern Armenia (then part of the Soviet Union) and caused more than 25,000 deaths, Gary Goldstein writes in the

According to the author, what the film lacks in high-octane disaster-movie thrills it makes up for with its focus on personal relationships, acts of heroism and a capable visual sense.

The script by Hrant Barsegyan, Arsen Danielyan, Aleksey Gravitskiy and Sergey Yudakov reflects true stories of rescue and survival culled from documentation and the accounts of eyewitnesses. The result is a crisscross of credible characters whose life-and-death journeys help frame the film’s gripping, often grim narrative.

These vivid folks include a vengeful young man reunited with the driver who caused the car crash that, years ago, killed his parents; an older couple at odds over their unmarried pregnant daughter, a gravely injured mother searching for her missing child, an unruly band of looters, a selfless Russian truck driver and other desperate souls.

“Director Sarik Andreasyan confidently juggles the demands of his large cast, the precarious action scenes and a clear commitment to veracity. The earthquake and its ruin, although set in the Armenian city of Leninakan (now called Gyumri), were effectively re-created on an abandoned Moscow factory site. (Pre-earthquake scenes were shot in Gyumri.),” the article reads.

“Sporadic dips into melodrama, some on-the-nose dialogue and acting, and an occasionally intrusive score hinder but don’t negate this ambitious film’s power and conviction,” the author concludes.

Gyumri’s Shirak Airport will make a 50% cut in the prices of air navigation services with a view of raising the attractiveness of the airport, the General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia reports.

The decision is the logical continuation of the implementation of the airport’s development program, which aims to boost the interest of air companies and use the latters’ potential to contribute to the growth of economic activity in the north of the country.

The low prices will apply to all air companies that operate flights from Shirak airport.

HDP MP Garo Paylan tabled a parliamentary question about Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş’s “Giaour” statement, reports.

On December 3, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said, “For us, independence means to stand against the giaours and to be able to call them giaours.” Garo Paylan tables a parliamentary question about this statement and requested answer from Kurtulmuş himself.

Paylan asked the following questions to Deputy Prime Minister Kurtulmuş:

1. According to Turkish Language Association (TDK), giaour means “(1) a nonbeliever person, (2) non-Muslim”. According to linguist Sevan Nişanyan, it means “(1) Zoroastrian, fire-worshiper, (2) non-Muslim, heretic.” Do you think that you insulted the Christians and non-Muslim peoples of Turkey by using the word of “giaour”, which is used in a pejorative way in many Turkish idioms and proverbs and which people often use to insult or defame certain groups or individuals?

2. Given that hate speech is defined as “speaking in an insulting or threatening manner on the basis of attributes such as gender, ethnic origin, religion, race, disability or sexual orientation”, do you think that your statement is a form of hate speech?
3. Regarding the fact that such statements often lead to hate crimes, do you think that your statement may cause hate crimes?

Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Tigran Sargsyan met with Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanayee to discuss the ways of creating a free trade zone between Iran and the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), reports.

Tigran Sargsyan thanked Mehdi Sanayee for the opportunity to discuss trade cooperation and noted that the issue of the free trade zone remains a crucial aspect of the constructive dialogue between the Eurasian integration association and Iran. According to the Chairman of the EEC Board, Iran is one of the priority countries for the EEU to set up a free trade zone with. The Presidents of the EEU member states have repeatedly spoken in favor of strengthening relations between the Eurasian Economic Union and Iran. “We believe that our mutual relations have a big potential for economic growth,” the Chairman of the EEC Board said.

Mehdi Sanayee, for his part, emphasized the seriousness of Iran’s intention in setting up a free trade zone with the EEU countries and reaffirmed his country’s interest in speeding up the process. “Iran maintains good trade and economic relations with all the EEU member states. We have every chance for efficient cooperation,” the Ambassador said.

Mehdi Sanayee also suggested gathering scientists and businessmen for a conference in Iran to talk over the operation of the EEC and the EEU, as well as the prospects of economic cooperation between Iran and the EEU states.

Photo: Reuters

 

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has been named as prime minister, replacing Manuel Valls, who resigned in order to make a bid for the presidency next year, the BBC reports.

Mr Valls presented his resignation to President Francois Hollande on Tuesday.

Mr Cazeneuve will be in charge of the Socialist government until June’s parliamentary elections.

He has played a key role in managing France’s security since the jihadist terror attacks in Paris last year.

Mr Valls will face other contenders in the Socialist primary next month.

Russia and China have vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire in Syrian Aleppo. The document was supported by 11 countries members of the Security Council, while Russia, China and Venezuela voted against. Angola abstained, TASS reports.

The draft resolution was not passed as two permanent members voted against, Security Council President Roman Marchesi (Spain) said. To have a UN Security Council document approved, it must be supported by nine countries on condition that none of the permanent members – Russia, the UK, China, the US and France – votes against.

The resolution drafted by Egypt, Spain and New Zealand demands a truce in Syrian Aleppo for at least seven days. Under their plan, this pause in warfare would make it possible to deliver aid to the embattled city and create conditions for restarting negotiations on a political settlement of the Syrian conflict.

Prior to the voting, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said putting the resolution to vote was in violation of Council rule of procedure, under which the vote should take place no earlier than 24 hours after the final version of a draft is submitted to the Security Council.

‘The vote cannot take place before 11 a.m. local time tomorrow (19:00 Moscow time),” he said.

He said additional time could let the UN Security Council members “to take account of certain new circumstances and arrive at a consensus resolution” that would help to improve the humanitarian situation in Syria in practice.

He said the co-authors of the resolution had come under pressure from the US, the UK and France. The UN ambassador said such actions were provocative and undermining international efforts towards a peaceful settlement in Syria.