Category: News

On October 5, the letter of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Karen Mirzoyan was transmitted to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra՝ad Al Hussein with regard to his statement made at the opening of the 33^rd session of the UN Human Rights Council on September 13, where he noted that his “Office has had no access to the conflict situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, including since the events of April 2016”.

Pointing to the absence of any appeal for access to Nagorno Karabakh from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the NKR Foreign Minister expressed regret that for more than two decades the Office had not been able to visit the NKR, not even after the Azerbaijani aggression this April.

“In our view, the OHCHR should be able to verify well-documented cases of massive and grave human rights violations and war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces both against Nagorno Karabakh civilian population and its military personnel. We strongly believe that the international community has to react to these crimes in order to prevent their recurrence; otherwise, the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators would encourage further use of force by Azerbaijan against the people of Nagorno Karabakh”, the letter reads.

Assuring that the authorities of Nagorno Karabakh Republic are very open to have a genuine cooperation with the OHCHR with a view of strengthening democratic norms and principles as well as protection of human rights in situations of conflict, the NKR Minister of Foreign Affairs invited the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Nagorno Karabakh or to dispatch a team in order to make an impartial and objective assessment of the human rights situation and the crimes perpetrated against the people of Nagorno Karabakh in April this year.

–  Turkey is exiting the European Union’s Creative Europe program which supports the arts, including film and TV — a surprise move that comes as relations between the Turkish government and the E.U. become increasingly strained.

In 2015, Turkey joined the ranks of non-E.U. member countries allowed to tap into Creative Europe’s 1.46-billion-euro fund ($1.56 billion) to support culture and the arts between 2014 and 2020. Creative Europe incorporates the E.U.’s Media Program, which subsidizes production, promotion, and distribution of film, TV, and video content.

“The European Commission regrets Turkey’s decision and the fact that Turkish cultural and audiovisual operators will miss future opportunities for cooperation with their counterparts in the E.U.,” an E.U. spokeswoman. “Although this is unfortunate, the commission respects the sovereign decision of Turkey.”

The withdrawal, now under negotiation between the E.U. and the Turkish government, is to be effective from Jan. 1, 2017.

According to Turkish daily Haberturk, the pullout is in response to a and performed in April by Germany’s Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra, in commemoration of the Armenian genocide.

More recently, in the wake of the July 15 failed coup in Turkey, tensions between the E.U. and Ankara have worsened, partly because E.U. officials have criticized Erdogan’s heavy crackdown against the coup’s alleged plotters and sympathizers.

To date, an estimated 2.4 million euros ($2.6 million) has been allocated by Creative Europe to support Turkish films and cultural projects, including the Istanbul Film Festival’s Meetings on the Bridge co-production forum. It is unclear whether Turkey’s pullout from Creative Europe will also affect the country’s membership in European co-productions fund Eurimages, which is overseen by the Council of Europe, not by the European Union.

In any event, the withdrawal is a blow to the Turkish film industry since producers, distributors and fest and film market organizers will not be able to tap into the Media Program’s soft money. It also symbolically weakens their ties with Europe’s creative community.

“It is a very unfortunate decision,” said Basak Emre, co-director of Festival on Wheels, which promotes Turkish films. “Many artists and cultural institutions will be affected. But we do not know the details of this decision yet,” she noted.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received today the delegation of the German Bundestag headed by Vice-President Johannes Singhammer.

Minister Nalbandian noted that the frequent visits of German lawmakers to Armenia are a testament to the importance of parliamentary diplomacy.

Edward Nalbandian availed himself of the opportunity to express gratitude for the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide by the German Bundestag, and for the principled stance of German MPs on the issue.

Johannes Singhammer presented the goals of German MPs’ visit to Armenia and the results of the meetings.

Minister Nalbandian briefed the guests on Armenia-EU relations, the ongoing negotiations on a new legal framework.

Edward Nalbandian referred to Armenia’s approaches towards the situation in the Middle East, the issues of minorities in the region, the struggle against terrorism and other regional processes.

Minister Nalbandian presented the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs towards elimination of consequences of Azerbaijan’s April aggression and settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded for discoveries about strange forms of matter, the BBC reports.

Three Britons, David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz, will share the 8m kronor prize.

They were named at a press conference in Sweden, and join a prestigious list of 200 other Physics laureates recognised since 1901.

The Nobel Committee said this year’s laureates had “opened the door on an unknown world”.

In this mysterious realm, matter can exist in strange states.

Their discoveries had helped scientists designing new materials.

Prof Haldane commented: “I was very surprised and very gratified.”

He said the work had been carried out a long time ago, but that its applications were only now starting to be seen.

Maria Sharapova’s two-year doping ban has been reduced to 15 months following her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), the BBC reports.

The five-time Grand Slam winner, 29, was initially banned by the International Tennis Federation for two years after testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.

The Russian will be able to return to the tennis court on 26 April, 2017.

“I am counting the days until I can return,” she said on Tuesday.

The first plane carrying humanitarian aid from Armenia to Syria has landed at Hmeinim airbase, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs  assisted in the transportation.

Armenia’s Consul General was at the site to receive the humanitarian aid.

Photos by Pierre Suu/Getty Images

 

Reality television star Kim Kardashian, Russian model Natalia Vodianova and others showed up at the launch for Armenian-American jewelry designer Siran Manoukian in Paris, according to

The Los Angeles-born designer and socialite, a longtime friend of Kardashian, was launching her own clothing label Maison Siran.

Attending the event were Portuguese model Sara Pinto Sampaio, German model Toni Garrn, Elton John’s husband David Furnish and Siran Manoukian’s friend Emiliya Kazandzhyan, American Armenian writer and president of a charity fund.

Kim Kardashian was tied up and robbed at gunpoint at a luxury Paris residence by assailants disguised as police who made off with millions in jewelry after she made a series of high-profile appearances at Paris fashion week.

 

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has proposed expanding the World Cup finals to a 48-team tournament – a larger number than his election promise, the reports.

The Italian suggested 16 of those teams would be eliminated after one knockout match – before the group stages.

The rest of the tournament would be the same as it is now, with 32 teams competing in group stages followed by knockout rounds.

One of his election promises was to expand the finals to 40 teams.

Infantino said a decision would be taken by the governing body’s council in January.

“These are ideas to find the best solution, we will debate them this month and we will decide everything by 2017,” said the 46-year-old.

“They are ideas which we put forward to see which one is the best.”

Infantino took charge of football’s world governing body in February after the disgraced Sepp Blatter resigned.

Under his proposal, a preliminary knockout round in the host country would involve 32 teams with the winners reaching the groups, while a further 16 seeded teams would get a bye to that stage.

“It means we continue with a normal World Cup for 32 teams, but 48 teams go to the party,” he added.

“Fifa’s idea is to develop football in the whole world, and the World Cup is the biggest event there is. It’s more than a competition, it’s a social event.”

Egypt’s short film Wintry Spring (Rabie Chetwy) scooped-up the Best Short Film Award at the Sose 2016 International Film Festival, which took place between 23 and 30 September in Yerevan, Armenia, according to Ahram Online.

Released in 2015 and directed by Mohamed Kamel, the 16-minute film depicts a relationship between a father and his daughter Nour. In an apparently otherwise regular relationship and life, typical youth problems emerge with Nour and create a rift between the two.

The film screened across over 90 film festivals around the world and received many awards.

Sose International Film Festival highlights women’s rights in the language of art. This year the festival featured 104 films from 38 countries. For the complete list of winners click .