Category: News

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Islamic State (IS) militants have mounted a ferocious counter-attack in north Iraq, killing at least 19 people in and around the city of Kirkuk, the BBC reports.

They attacked government buildings, killing at least six police officers, and a power station under construction, where 13 employees died, officials say.

Twelve IS fighters also reportedly died and fighting seems to be continuing.

Government and Kurdish forces began a long-awaited operation against the IS capital in Iraq, Mosul, on Monday.

Mosul lies 170km to the north-east of Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic city claimed both by Iraq’s central government and the Kurds.

Government forces said on Friday they had regained control of a further two villages – al-Awaizat and Nanaha – south of Mosul, evacuating 65 displaced families and killing 15 IS militants.

The government of the Republic of Armenia aims to ensure protection, dignity, improved living conditions, justice for its citizens, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan said as he presented the government program to the National Assembly today. The government is obliged to reveal the obstacles on the way of reaching the goals and find optimal solutions, he added.

“We have entered a new stage of regional developments, which envisages low paces of economic growth with our immediate economic partners, thus restricting the opportunities of rapid growth due to common trends. In this environment the current structure of the Armenian economy will not be able to ensure the pace of progress, which goes in line with our challenges, if standard approaches of development are applied,” the Prime Minister said.

“Today the government is tasked with obtaining a precise diagnosis of the system of governance and the state of economy, analyzing the most important issues and proposing both short-term measures and long-term reform programs,” he added. He informed that a “Center for Strategic Initiatives” comprising the leading specialists and experts from Armenia, Diaspora and abroad has been set up under the government to address the strategic questions.

Speaking about the strategic issues, PM Karen Karapetyan stressed that “defense and security” is number one challenge. “The military threats facing our country require an efficient, permanently improving and modernizing defense system enjoying the rust and support of the society.” He assured that the government would spare no means and efforts to neutralize the military threats facing Armenia and Artsakh, creating sufficient military capacities and maintaining military balance in the region.

Among other important issues the Prime Minister emphasized the implementation of the Constitution amended in 2015. He attached importance to measures ensuring to the development of democratic institutions, creation of confidence-building measures to raise the trust in political process and institutions. The Prime Minister said “the reforms should start from the government.”

According to him, elimination of corruption is the primary condition for the effectiveness of the state governance system. “We’ll promote the state-private cooperation to ensure better governance at the local level and reduce the corruption risks,” he added.

The Prime Minister said “the government pursues the ideology of liberalized economy and sees the perspectives of economic development in the growth of exports.” “Our primary goal is to ensure a free and fair competitive environment for business,” he added.

Karen Karapetyan noted that “the improvement of the business environment is a permanent process.” In this respect he attached importance to the monitoring, exposure and elimination of legal norms and practices hindering the economic activity.

The Prime Minister said tourism, development of modem infrastructures will also be in the spotlight. “The government will pursue the deepening of cooperation with the Nagorno Karabakh Republic,” he added.

PM Karapetyan stressed that “stable economic growth is the fundamental means for fighting poverty and unemployment.” “This is the reason why we emphasize the importance of forming free, fair and competitive economic conditions,” he added.

In the field of education and science, the government will aim to ensure high-quality education and an opportunity for obtaining practical knowledge for all. Special attention will be paid to children in rural areas.

According to the Prime Minister, the government will also pursue the maintenance of national cultural values, at the same time ensuring openness for adopting the best values of other cultures. It will also strive to maintain the unique nature of Armenia.

“Together we have to undertake the honored task of creating strong grounds for the long-term development of the country. Every day we’ll work together to take steps that will bring us closer to having a competitive, economically strong and fair Motherland based on national values,” the Prime Minister concluded.

High ranking political leaders from different countries have offered their support to the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office said in an interview with Azernews newspaper.

With regards to criticism of the OSCE MG, Kasprzyk said co-chairs are informed in detail about the developments around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“The Chairmanship of the OSCE is paying constant attention and is informed in detail about developments. The Chairperson-in-Office, Dr Steinmeier, visited the region and the resolution of the conflict was high on the agenda of his trip. The CiO and other high ranking political leaders from different countries have offered their support to the activity of the MG,” he said in an e-mail, further mentioning that the conflict is a frequent subject of public debate in other international organizations besides the OSCE.

Kasprzyk, commenting on the armistice between the sides on the frontline, said that his office follows the situation on a daily basis.

“According to information obtained and from our own observations, from the end of May 2016 the situation along the front lines has been relatively stable, though there were still reports about ceasefire violations and, regrettably, recently about casualties. Every casualty is a tragedy and causes grief and sorrow for the family and friends of the deceased. I share these sorrows,” he said, adding that “the ceasefire will only hold based on the political will of the parties.”

“Finally, I would like to stress that the monitoring exercises are not investigations, nor are they a peacekeeping measure. They provide a ‘snapshot’, an effective and consistent way of accessing information regarding the situation on the ground. With the support of the sides, we will continue our activity,” he continued.

As for the expansion of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Kasprzyk said that his mandate and the modalities of work of his Office would be unaffected.

10 guides will travel to Germany for an international training as a result of the cooperation of Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and the Matenadaran.

On October 8, the Feast of the Holy Translators, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative has decided to grant US $20,000 to the Yerevan Mesrop Mashtots Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, the Matenadaran, to facilitate making Armenian culture more accessible to foreign visitors.

The grant will fund the training of ten Matenadaran guides. They will travel to Germany to visit museums and cultural centers in Germany to identify and learn the newest principles of museum management and presentation, and to develop skills necessary for museum guides who work in foreign languages.

“Matenadaran has always valued the importance of sharing information. We pay huge attention to professional competence of our guides. This project is enormously important and we are pleased that this partnership grows and is becoming strategic,” said Ara Khzmalyan, Advisor to the Director of Matenadaran.

The Yerevan Mesrop Mashtots Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts has the biggest flow of foreign visitors in Armenia as a research and cultural institution.

“Deciding on this grant on the feast of Holy Translators is not just symbolic. With this grant, we are proud to continue in the tradition of the 5th century translators who were instrumental in integrating Armenia and Armenians into world culture.  Better representation of Armenian culture through better-trained guides is very important, and an appropriate fit within the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative,” said Ruben Vardanyan, Co-Founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.

This is the second instance of cooperation between the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and the Matenadaran as a project of the Armenian Memory Act. In 2015, the Matenadaran received US $25 000 grant to purchase a special scanner to digitize manuscripts making them more accessible for researchers and the wider public. 700 manuscripts and rare archive documents have been digitalized since the beginning of the project. The process of digitization is ongoing. The Armenian Memory Act, subproject of Aurora Initiative, is committed to enhancing the preservation and use of archives and documentation of the Armenian experience.

On October 20, Edward Nalbandian, the Foreign Minister of Armenia, received Herbert Salber, the European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia.

At the meeting, the sides touched upon the agreements reached during the Vienna and St. Petersburg summits on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

The Foreign Minister of Armenia emphasized that the unequivocal implementation of those agreements, which Azerbaijan stubbornly refuses, is imperative for the advancement of the peace process.

The EU Special Representative reaffirmed the EU support to the implementation of the agreements reached at the summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg – to the efforts aimed at ensuring the advancement of settlement process under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

has released a private, high level email exchange within the Hillary Clinton campaign about the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) informs.

The letter dated April 19, 2015 authored by John Podesta, Chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign to Jake Sullivan, a top foreign policy advisor to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election.

The letter reads:

Friday is the 100th Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. I presume the Armenian groups will be looking for a statement or a signal from the campaign on whether she will call it a “genocide” if she is elected president. As a Senator and candidate, she was unequivocal in recognizing the genocide. As Secretary of State, she did not use the term genocide but rather focused on future reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia.

The White House has studiously avoided using “genocide” so far. There is an internal debate now about whether to change that posture given that it is the 100th anniversary. But in all likelihood they won’t change.

Two questions:

Do you all agree that she should embrace the position she took as Senator and candidate, even though she did not take it as SecState?

Do you all agree that we should just wait until we are asked as opposed to doing something proactive?

Sorry to bother with this, but as you all know this matters enormously to Armenian-Americans.

Armenian Defense Minster Vigen Sargsyan received today Herbert Salber, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia.

During the meeting the Defense Minister presented the situation at the line of contact, the overview of the ceasefire violations by the Azerbaijani side and the latest developments in the Karabakh conflict settlement process.

The parties reiterated the lack of alternative to a peaceful settlement and stressed the importance of the international community’s support for the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the confidence-building measures.

The Armenian Defense Minister and the EU Special Representative exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues, as well as the perspectives of Armenia-EU cooperation.

The Azerbaijani government has renewed its vicious crackdown on critics and independent groups, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The European Union and international financial institutions have a rare opportunity to insist on human rights reforms, as Azerbaijan actively seeks financial and other partnerships to offset a recent economic downturn.

The 75-page report, “,” documents the government’s concerted efforts to undermine civil society. Human Rights Watch found that in 2016, the authorities used false, politically motivated criminal and administrative charges to prosecute political activists, journalists, and others. The government has built a restrictive legal and policy framework to paralyze the work of independent groups. Lawyers willing to defend critics have faced retaliation and disbarment. Although the authorities released several human rights defenders and others in early 2016, many others remain in prison or fled into exile.

“With the release of some wrongfully imprisoned activists earlier this year, there were high hopes that Azerbaijan was turning a corner,” said Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus director at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “But optimism is fading fast as the government relentlessly pursues critics and tries to shut down independent groups.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 90 human rights defenders, leaders of independent organizations, journalists, lawyers, and political party activists.

President Serzh Sargsyan, who is in Maastricht on a working visit, participated in the Summit of the European People’s Party (EPP). The Summit was presided over by the Chairman of the EPP Joseph Dole. Present at the Summit were the President of the European Council Donald Tusk, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, Heads of state and government from the European Union and Eastern Partnership countries – members of the EPP.

In the framework of the agenda, the participants of the Summit discussed issues related to the preliminary works of the upcoming session of the European Council, spoke about the recent developments in the refugee crisis, issues related to the EU economy and foreign policy. At the Summit, President Serzh Sargsyan made a statement in which he spoke about regional issues and challenges.

In the government house of Limburg state, which is the venue of the Summit, President Sargsyan also made an inscription in the Golden Book of Honorary Guests.

As part of its 2016 fundraising events worldwide, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has launched its donations-through-Haypost campaign in Armenia. This year’s fundraising efforts, which include the forthcoming Thanksgiving Day Telethon, are being organized under the slogan “My Artsakh.”

As in previous years, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has joined forces with Haypost, Armenia’s postal service, to encourage supporters to make donations at Haypost offices throughout the republic. All contributions will be used to help rebuild war-ravaged communities in Artsakh.

The Haypost campaign will run from October 20 until the end of the year. Every single donation helps implement a vital project.