Category: News

On May 4, 2017, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, in the direction of the Askeran region, south-east of Akna.

From the positions of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Mihail Olaru (Moldova) and Personal Assistant to the CiO Personal Representative Simon Tiller (Great Britain).

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, his Field Assistant Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova), and staff member of his Office Martin Schuster (Germany).

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

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

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Christine Muttonen (MP, Austria) and Special Representative on the South Caucasus Kristian Vigenin (MP, Bulgaria) expressed regret about today’s announcement that it has not been possible to reach agreement to extend the mandate of the OSCE’s Office in Yerevan. The Office is expected to close in the coming months.

“I regret the fact that despite lengthy and extensive efforts, the Permanent Council has been unable to reach consensus on the continuation of the OSCE Office in Yerevan’s important work,” President Muttonen said. “The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has repeatedly called for OSCE field operations to be given robust mandates and all the resources they need to allow them to perform their vital tasks, and yet, regrettably, another field operation is being closed.”

Vigenin noted how important the Office in Yerevan’s work is for Armenia and the OSCE, and stressed that the OSCE PA will remain actively engaged in the region.

“Following the closure of OSCE field operations in Georgia and Azerbaijan in past years, the Office in Yerevan has both a symbolic and practical importance that should not be overlooked. Personally, I have benefited from the Office’s expertise when carrying out diplomatic visits, and hope that the interim period before the final closure of the mission can be used to find a compromise solution so that the country can continue benefiting from its support,” Vigenin said.

In its Baku Declaration of 2014 the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly called for the OSCE to “adopt full, effective, and long-term mandates for OSCE field operations,” reiterating similar previous appeals.

The Armenian Government will allocate funds from its reserve funds to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the purpose of providing humanitarian aid to Syrian citizens affected by crisis.

The government approved the decision at a sitting today.

The sum will be transferred to the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund for purchasing the necessary goods.

Armenia to Syria earlier this year.

Horizon Weekly – On May 2, 2017, Turkish parliamentarian of Armenian descent and a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), Mr. Garo Paylan held a series of meetings in Ottawa and Montreal with Members of Parliament and various current and former Canadian officials.

During his meetings, Mr. Paylan had the opportunity to provide an overview of the current political climate in Turkey, the aftermath of the constitutional referendum and the ongoing uncertainty and concern regarding the rights and freedoms of minorities living in Turkey.

Later during the day, Mr. Paylan also had the opportunity to meet Canada’s former Minister of Justice and Attorney General and current head of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, the Hon. Irwin Cotler, where similar issues were raised and discussed.

Sixteen national organizations joined an Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region (ANCA-ER) initiative earlier this year to prevent genocide denial ads from appearing in American newspapers, billboards and other media. Unlike 2016 and previous years, no major media carried genocide denial advertising in April 2017.

“We are thankful to our coalition partners who are principled in the matter of inadmissibility of genocide denial in any form,” said ANCA-ER Chairman Steve Mesrobian. “Genocide denial is not ‘provocative’ or ‘scholarly debate,’ but deeply offensive hate speech and we are glad to see such positive results from our ongoing anti-defamation activities. We are committed in ensuring that the memory of all the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, and all other genocides are properly commemorated and remembered.”

A coalition of sixteen national anti-genocide and human rights organizations joined the ANCA-ER in efforts directed at major newspapers and advertising companies in the US.  The initiative sought to heighten awareness of attempts to place genocide denial advertising and to urge these companies not to accept such ads.

In April 2016, the ANCA-ER led a successful grassroots mobilization in Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and other areas to force media giants like ClearChannel to immediately bring down genocide denial billboards and issue an apology.  After the appearance of similar advertising in The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, and The Philadelphia Inquirer in late April 2016, the ANCA-ER assembled a coalition of 14 anti-genocide and human rights groups which called upon the newspapers to formally review their advertising polices to prevent the placement of genocide denial ads in the future.

Earlier this year the ANCA-ER, together with its coalition partners, proactively reached out to media outlets across the US to remind them not to accept such advertising.

PHOTO: AFP/GETTY

 

The Duke of Edinburgh is retiring from royal duties this autumn, Buckingham Palace has announced, the BBC reports.

The decision was made by Prince Philip himself and is supported by the Queen, a palace spokesman said.

The duke, who turns 96 next month, will attend previously scheduled engagements between now and August but will not accept new invitations.

The Queen “will continue to carry out a full programme of official engagements”, the palace said.

The duke carried out 110 days of engagements in 2016, making him the fifth busiest member of the royal family, according to Court Circular listings.

He is patron, president or a member of more than 780 organisations and will continue to be associated with them, but “will no longer play an active role by attending engagements”, Buckingham Palace said.

In the statement, the spokesman said the duke “may still choose to attend certain public events from time to time”.

The Armenian national team has retained the 67th place in the FIFA World Ranking published today.

Armenia climbed to 67^th last month after beating Kazakhstan in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Brazil tops the ranking followed by Argentina and Germany.

On April 25, 2017 the Georgia State Capitol was crowded with Atlanta Armenian-Americans who had gathered there for the annual Armenian Genocide commemoration event hosted by the Armenian National Committee of Georgia. Many state and city-level elected officials were also present at the ceremony. Through the leadership and efforts of the local ANC, Georgia is one of the leading US states in properly commemorating the Armenian Genocide through annual remembrance events as well as proclamations and resolutions issued by the State Legislature, Atlanta City Council, Members of Congress, and other elected officials.

This year the commemoration event included powerful remarks by the ANC of Georgia chairs Sarkis, Aroutioun, and Vardoui Agasarkisians, Georgia Armenian community activists as well as elected officials. In his opening remarks Dr. Sarkis Agasarkisian thanked the Georgia public officials for being outspoken on the Armenian Genocide issue despite the gag-rule attempts by Ankara on many countries. He also recounted the history of the atrocities committed against the Armenian and other Christian minorities by the Ottoman Turkish government and the continuous denial by Turkey of its crime. Dr. Agasarskian mentioned that despite 3 out of every 4 Armenian being massacred in their ancestral homeland, Turkish government’s plan of complete annihilation of the Armenian nation failed because of several factors, including the strong Christian faith and heritage. “Despite the possibility of being saved from the Ottoman sword, many Armenian preferred to die as Christian martyrs and that same Christian faith ensured their ability to revive after finding refuge in the Middle East, Europe, USA, and elsewhere,” Dr. Agasarkisian remarked.

Another factor was the unprecedented humanitarian assistance and compassion shown by the American people and relief efforts undertaken by the Congressionally-mandated Near East Relief organization, which saved around 260 thousand of Armenian lives. Speaking of the continuous Turkish denial he emphasized the importance for Turkey to face its own history – with the Armenian Genocide being the darkest page in that – since otherwise Turkey does not have a chance of becoming a democratic society and a reliable partner of the United States in its global fight against ISIS and other extremist groups in the region, whom Ankara is allegedly now supporting. Turkey will become a true friend of the United States and the West only when it faces its history and recognizes the Armenian Genocide. Dr. Agasarkisian concluded his remarks by reconfirming the commitment and the strong will of Armenians worldwide to continue the march for truth and justice for the Armenian Genocide after 102 years and far beyond.

The speech was followed by a reading of the proclamations issued by the Georgia State legislature and Atlanta City Council, where the state and city authorities were recommitting their strong stance with the Armenian people in their fight for truth and justice for the Armenian Genocide. Other speakers included Kenya Johnson, who brought the message from Fulton County Solicitor General Keith Gammage in commemorating the Armenian Genocide with the Armenian-American community. Robbin Shipp – former Member of the House — from Georgia governor’s office stressed in her speech that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide will prevent the humanity from other genocides. She read the statement by the Georgia Governor Nathan Deal where the governor speaks of the importance to publicly recounting the Armenian Genocide and other painful historic episodes in the world to enhance our sensitivity and consciousness towards others.

In her remarks, Dr. Juliette Stepanian-Apkarian, professor at  Emory University thanked all the elected officials for joining the remembrance event mentioning that all human and civil rights advocates are there for the Armenian Genocide as it is one of the first human rights issues and its universal recognition and condemnation will highly contribute towards promoting and protecting human rights worldwide.

The event concluded with remarks by Nathan Whatson Musheghian who read the statements issued by the legendary Civil Rights activist and Congressman John Lewis, Atlanta City Mayor Kasim Reed, and Noah Whatson Musheghian ended the program with a prayer in memory of all the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923.

Armenian Foreign Ministry Spokesman has Baku for “abusing the OSCE principle of consensus” and “opposing the whole organization.”

“Due to its extremely destructive stance Azerbaijan finds itself in a total isolation. OSCE Chairmanship, participating States, Secretariat support activities of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, and it is solely Azerbaijan that abuses the OSCE principle of consensus, singlehandedly blocking the decision on the continuation of activities of the OSCE office in Yerevan thus opposing the whole Organisation,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tigran Balayan said.

The comments come in the wake of the announcement of lack of consensus over the extension of mandate of OSCE Office in Yerevan

“Today, the Representative of the OSCE Austrian Chairmanship delivered a statement at the Permanent Council meeting announcing that despite exerted efforts, it has not been possible to reach an agreement on the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. As at the Permanent Council meeting in January, also today the Austrian Chairmanship praised the constructive efforts of Armenia aimed at finding a solution to the issue. Likewise, the constructive approaches of Armenia were commended by other participating States,” Balayan said in comments to News.am.

The Armenian Delegation to the OSCE made a statement reflecting on all steps undertaken by Armenia together with previous – German and current – Austrian Chairmanships aimed at ensuring the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. Armenian side recalled actions of Azerbaijan aimed at closing the Office which increasingly enhanced, although the OSCE Austrian and the German Chairmanships clearly refuted Azerbaijani false allegations targeting the Office.

After closing the OSCE Office in Baku and blocking also the activities of the Office in Yerevan, Azerbaijan deprives the OSCE of fully-fledged presence in the South Caucasus, which will have a detrimental impact not only on the activities of the Organisation in our region but the OSCE as a whole and its structures.

All efforts by the Austrian Chairmanship and the participating States to make Baku  act constructively and refrain from hampering the activities of the OSCE Office in Yerevan have failed.

Both in foreign and domestic policies Azerbaijan on a daily basis violates the principles and commitments of the OSCE, including fundamental freedoms and as a result faces constant international criticism. Now again by impeding and challenging the OSCE activities, Azerbaijan scores another failure, thus deepening the gap between itself and the international community.

As an active OSCE participating State, Armenia will continue to contribute to the realisation of the OSCE goals. We will consider new avenues of implementing OSCE projects in Armenia as have been also proposed by participating states at the Permanent Council.

The bodies of at least 21 miners trying to help colleagues trapped after an explosion in a coal mine in northern Iran have been recovered, state media has reported, the BBC reports.

A local official in the area said that nearly 70 people were injured.

The officials said that those killed were miners in a tunnel trying to reach 32 miners trapped underground in the northern province of Golestan.

The mine blast is thought to have been caused by a gas leak.

Emergency crews are at work at the scene of the disaster, and have so far cleared about 600m of the tunnel leading to the mine, officials say.