Category: News

Anti-Mafia police in Naples have recovered two Van Gogh paintings stolen from Amsterdam in 2002, the Van Gogh Museum and organized crime investigators said Friday, the Associated Press reports.

The museum in a statement on its website Friday said the paintings, found without their frames, are in “relatively good condition.” It said the two paintings are the 1882 work “Seascape at Scheveningen” and a later work, “Congregation leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen.”

Police in Naples said the paintings, of “priceless value,” were discovered during a raid as part of a crackdown against a Naples-based Camorra crime clan suspected of cocaine trafficking. Naples prosecutors said more details will be given later at a news conference in the southern Italian city.

The paintings were sequestered along with other property, worth “tens of millions of euros,” said the police. The Financial Guard, a branch of the Italian police, often sequesters financial assets of suspected criminals.

“After all these years, you no longer dare count on a possible return,” the museum quoted its director Alex Rueger as saying, and expressed gratitude to Italian investigators and police.

The museum said the paintings, inspected by a curator, do show “some damage” and it is unclear when they will return to Amsterdam. The museum director was planning to attend the news conference.

Turkey has ordered the closure of 20 television and radio stations, including one that airs children’s programmes, on charges they spread “terrorist propaganda”, adding to fears that emergency rule is being used to stifle the media, Reuters reports.

President Tayyip Erdogan has said he wants a three-month state of emergency, imposed after a failed coup attempt in July, to be prolonged past October so authorities can eradicate the threat posed by a religious movement blamed for the attempt, as well as Kurdish militants who have waged a 32-year insurgency.

The banned channels are owned or operated by Kurds or the Alevi religious minority, according to Hamza Aktan, news editor at IMC TV, a news broadcaster slated for closure. He cited a copy of the decision obtained by his channel, which was based on powers given the government in a decree issued in July.

“This has nothing to do with the coup. It is an effort to silence the last independent media covering the Kurdish issue and violations committed by the state,” Aktan told Reuters.

IMC has aired reports looking at security forces’ conduct during 14 months of military operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has killed thousands.

Among the 12 shuttered television channels are Govend TV, which plays folk music, and Zarok TV, which airs Kurdish-language children’s cartoons. The decision also shut 11 radio stations for harming national security, Aktan said.

“Turkey is targeting a wide swath of cultural and political expression by shuttering minority broadcasters,” Robert Mahoney of the Committee to Protect Journalists said. “When the government sees even children’s programming as a threat to national security, it is clearly abusing its emergency powers.”

The Balyan family was one of the most well-known Armenian families during the Ottoman era. Family members served as imperial architects for years and are remembered as the masterminds behind many palaces, mosques and barracks like the Dolmabahce Mosque and the Beylerbeyi Palace, Daily Sabah writes.
An Armenian family coming from the province of Kayseri was the origin of nine craftsmen consecutively, and they left their marks on many buildings in Istanbul and its surroundings during the 18th and 19th centuries such as palaces, mosques, churches, mansions, waterfront residences, barracks, schools, hospitals, towers, fountains, weirs and theater halls.

The Balyan Family developed a unique architectural style by blending Europe’s baroque and imperial styles with Oriental ornamental style. Apart from passing down their knowledge and experience from one generation to another, the Balyan Family succeeded in modernizing themselves and making sure they were not forgotten.

Not many people who perform their prayers at the mosques in the Bosporus are aware that some of these mosques have been built by an Armenian.

On September 29, Edward Nalbandian, the Acting Foreign Minister, delivered a speech on Armenia’s foreign policy at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington D.C.

The U.S. State Department and National Security Council officials, leading experts and diplomats accredited in Washington D.C. attended the meeting with the Foreign Minister of Armenia, chaired by Andrew S. Weiss, the Vice President of the Carnegie Endowment.

In his remarks, Edward Nalbandian presented the priorities of Armenia’s foreign policy, country’s path during these 25 years since the declaration of independence, Armenia’s stance on a number of regional issues and the ways to resolve them.

The Head of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia presented to the leading U.S. experts the consequences of April aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and the efforts exerted by Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group countries to overcome those consequences, the current stage of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process; he presented the agreements reached during the summits held in Vienna and St. Petersburg aimed at creating necessary conditions for the advancement of negotiation process and Azerbaijan’s destructive stance, attempts to reject the reached agreements.

While answering the numerous questions of the attendees, Edward Nalbandian touched upon the gross violations of the international humanitarian law by Azerbaijani Armed Forces during the April war, Armenia’s membership at the Eurasian Economic Union, the Armenia-European Union cooperation, the Armenian-Iranian relations.

The Council of the Italian region of Basilicata (Consiglio Regionale della Basilicata) unanimously recognized the Armenian Genocide on September 27, expressing its support to the Armenian people.

The bill was submitted by MP Aurelio Pace at the request of the Armenian community.

The bill says the historic fact of the Armenian Genocide has been recognized by a number of international organizations, including the Turkish Tribunal in 1919.

The document underlines that it’s necessary to inform the public, especially the younger generation, about the tragedy that befell the Armenian nation with a view of preventing similar crimes in the future.

The Regional Council of Basilicata became the 180th regional council in Italy to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are not ready for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, speaking The Atlantic and Aspen Institute, the informs.

He said there are some frozen conflicts in the world today, where one sees no solution right now “because the leaders aren’t ready, because the tensions aren’t there.”

Secretary Kerry referred to the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Syria crisis and other conflicts in the world.

On September 28, political consultations between the Foreign Ministries of Armenia and Georgia were held at the MFA of Georgia. The Armenian and Georgian delegations were headed by Shavarsh Kocharyan, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, and Gigi Gigiadze, Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia, respectively.

In the course of political consultations the sides discussed a wide spector of issues related to the current situation of bilateral political, trade and economic relations and perspectives of their development. The agenda of the consultations focused on the deepening of cooperation in the areas of transport, energy, culture and education. Moreover, the necessity of inventory of the existing legal field was emphasized.

The interlocutors also touched upon the intensification of cooperation within the framework of international organizations, as well as exchanged views on a wide range of international and regional issues.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) should broaden cooperation in defense and security, Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov said on Thursday, TASS reports.

“Taking into consideration that the situation on the external borders of the Commonwealth is far from being stable, we have a common task not to allow the spread of terrorism to the CIS space,” Gerasimov told a meeting of the Committee of Chiefs of Staff of CIS member states.

“In this uneasy situation it is necessary to broaden cooperation in the sphere of defense and security,” the general said, adding that the military cooperation in the CIS format “allows successful cooperation in a broad range of areas.”

The International Army Games, the International military-technical forum “ARMY-2016” and other joint events held earlier this year show great possibilities and prospects of the military cooperation of the CIS countries, he said.

The legal basis for this is a concept of military cooperation of the CIS member-states up to 2020 approved by the CIS Council of Heads of State, he reminded. “The concept envisages strengthening our armed forces, maintaining national security and developing good neighborly relations.”

The CIS, a regional organization formed during the collapse of the Soviet Union, now consists of nine countries – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan and Ukraine are associate members.

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Karen Nazaryan received the delegation headed by French MP Francois Rochebloine.

During the meeting reference was made to the dynamically developing relations between Armenia and France, the high-level political dialogue and the effective cooperation in most different spheres.

Deputy FM Nazaryan attached importance to the visit of the French lawmakers to Armenia and Artsakh. He expressed gratitude to Mr. Rochebloine for his pro-Armenian activity and especially for is consistent attitude towards Artsakh-related issues.

The parties emphasized the mutually beneficial cooperation of the Armenian and French delegations within international organizations. Special reference was made to the exceptionally peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the continuous efforts towards the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

On September 28, in the framework of the working visit to Belgium Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Karen Mirzoyan met with Director of the European Friends of Armenia NGO Diogo Pinto. During the meeting, the sides discussed a range of issues related to joint projects and their realization.

Later in the day the NKR Foreign Minister had a working lunch with member of the Belgian Parliament and PACE Piete De Bruyn. The sides touched upon the existing situation of the peaceful settlement of Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, the large-scale military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against the NKR on April 2-5 as well as its consequences.

On the same day, Karen Mirzoyan participated in an event dedicated to the 25^th anniversary of Armenia organized by the Embassy of Armenia in Brussels.

The working visit of Minister Karen Mirzoyan to Belgium has ended.