Category: News

Turkey’s president has declared a state of emergency for three months following Friday night’s failed army coup, the BBC reports.

Speaking at the presidential palace in Ankara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that “all the viruses within the armed forces will be cleansed”.

The declaration could be used to extend the detention of nearly 10,000 people rounded up since the failed coup.

More than 600 schools have been closed and thousands of state workers sacked in a crackdown by the president.

“This measure is in no way against democracy, the law and freedoms,” said Erdogan after announcing the state of emergency.

He praised those who were killed fighting against the coup as “martyrs”. Some 246 people were killed resisting the attempted coup, according to the government.

rdogan was speaking after holding meetings of Turkey’s national security council and the cabinet in the capital.

Yerevan will host ArmHiTec 2016 international exhibition of arms and defense technologies October 13-15. The doctrine of the first ArmHiTec 2016 expo has been approved by Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan, Press Service of the Defense Ministry reports.

The list of the expositions includes the whole arsenal of arms and technologies used in practice, with a special focus on the development of innovative technologies and precision weapons.

Battle management systems, communication equipment, automated troop control systems, robotic systems, unmanned flying vehicles, search and inspection technologies, precision weapons, laser technologies, optical-electronic equipment and systems, air defense systems will also be on display.

The exhibition aims to present the newest military equipment, innovative military production means used in Armenia and abroad. The event will open new perspectives for exchange of experience, contribute to the expansion of Armenia’s military-technical cooperation and reinforce the export potential.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has visited the Armenian Taverna restaurant in Manchester with his teammate Adnan Januzaj. Established in 1968, it serves traditional Armenian dishes.

has described the Armenian Taverna as “The Manchester Museum of The 1970s.”

“This is a privilege for the management and all the staff in Armenian Taverna to welcome our precious footballers Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Adnan Januzaj to Manchester and to Armenian Taverna. We wish them all the best playing for Man Utd,” reads a post onthe restaurant’s Facebook page.

Armenian international Henrikh Mkhitaryan joined Manchester United earlier this month. He’s now traveling to China with Man Utd for Tour 2016.

The team is set to play two International Champions Cup matches against Borussia Dortmund in Shanghai (22 July) and Manchester City in Beijing (25 July).

The meetings of the OSCE Minsk Group on Karabakh conflict settlement have been postponed, US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick told RIA Novosti.

The Minsk Group Co-Chairs were scheduled to visit Turkey on July 18 to discuss the Karabakh issue.

“The meetings in Turkey have been cancelled. We’re now discussing the date for a new meeting,” Warlick said.

A group of intellectuals has issued an appeal to Jirair Sefilian , urging him to interfere and prevent the undesirable development of events by calling on his friends to lay down arms and surrender to the authorities.

The statement reads:

“Dear Jirair,
We appeal to you assured that you value and attach importance to the word of intellectuals, their request and kind advice.

Your friends, who are our compatriots, have resorted to a radical step – an armed attack – and have taken people hostage, a Police Colonel has been killed.

Relying upon your good sense and patriotism, we are confident that with your wisdom and calls you will interfere and prevent this irresponsible  and short-sighted situation and undesirable consequences of the developments  by urging your friends to lay down weapons and surrender to the authorities.

We are confident that your and your friends’ further reasonable and watchful steps will be targeted at national unity, peace and security.”

The appeal has been signed by:
Ruben Babayan, director
Hovhannes Chekijian, director
Edward Topchyan, conductor
Tigran Mansurian, composer
Perch Zeituntsyan, writer
Yervand Manaryan, actor and director
Robert Elibekyan, artist
Ruben Matevosyan, singer
Sasun Paskevichyan, composer
Levon Malkhasyn, jazzman,
Alexander Grigoryan, director
Arthur Grigoryan, composer
Norayr Mehrabyan, choreographer
Sona Hovhannisyan, choir conductor
Shushan Petrosyan, singer
Narek Hakhnazaryan, musician
Nune Yesayan, singer
Zhirair Dadasyan, director
Robert Mlkeyan, choir conductor
Vahan Badalyan, director
Arev Petrosyan, artist-designer
Narek Duryan, actor
Sergey Smbatyan, choir conductor
Roland Sharoyan, writer
Alla Levonyan, singer
Nikolay Tsaturyan, director
Gevorg Hakobyan, singer
Ruben Hovsepyan, writer

“We offer our thoughts and prayers to the families of the police officers who were killed or injured during – I think the incident took place Sunday in Yerevan’s Erebuni district,” Deputy Spokesman for the US Department of State Mark Toner told a daily briefing.

“We obviously condemn strongly the use of violence to effect political change in Armenia or anywhere,” he said.

“We encourage Armenian authorities to handle the situation with appropriate restraint, but again, our condolences go out to those police officers who lost their lives in the attack,” the Deputy Spokesman said.

“Situations are complex in many parts of the world, but I think it’s a pretty common dictate of ours to say that there’s no military solution to any crises, political or otherwise,” Marc Toner said.

A group of Armenian peacekeepers left for Germany today to prepare for a mission in Afghanistan, Press Service of the Armenian Ministry of Defense reports.

Before the departure the group was greeted by commander of the peacekeeping brigade, Major-General Arthur Simonyan. He urged the servicemen to fulfill the mission with dignity and remain committed to the traditions established in RA Armed Forces.

Armenia has been participating in the NATO mission in Afghanistan since 2010. The Armenian servicemen carry out their mission under the command of the German Armed Forces.

Photo: Alexandra Mudrats/TASS

Well-known journalist Pavel Sheremet has been killed in central Kiev, the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper reported on Wednesday, reports.

According to the publication, “On Wednesday morning, well-known journalist Pavel Sheremet was killed in a car bomb explosion. The car belonged to the Ukrainskaya Pravda head Yelena Pritula, but she was not in the car, the report says.

The car in which Sheremet was riding exploded at the corner of Bogdan Kmelnitsky and Ivan Franko streets.

Pavel Sheremet was born in Minsk on November 28, 1971. In 1998, he took a job as a special correspondent of the Novosti program on Russia’s ORT TV channel and in January 1999 took the post of the managing editor of the Russian and foreign bureau of the TV channel’s information programs. He was the presenter of the weekly analytical program Vremya. Since 2009 he was editor of the politics and society in the Ogonyok magazine.

For the past five years, Sheremet had been staying in Kiev, working for Ukrainskaya Pradva and Vesti radio.

 

 

 

Medieval Armenian capital of Ani has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The decision was made at the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee in Turkey.

“What’s important for Armenia is that the site’s inclusion in the list provides certain guarantees of its preservation,” Vahram Kazhoyan, Secretary General of Armenian National Commission for UNESCO, told reporters in Yerevan today. He said, this becomes more important under the conditions of the strained relations between Armenia and Turkey.

“On a more practical level this means that any actions connected with the monument, be it maintenance, restoration or even management of tourist flows will be reported to UNESCO,” Kazhoyan said. He stressed that no changes can be made to the site without permission from UNESCO.

Besides, he said it was important from the point of view of popularization of the monument. The application clearly mentions the Armenian origin of Ani. To leave no doubt the Armenian side published a booklet about Ani, which presents the city’s history as the capital of the Armenian kingdom of the Bagratides. It was disseminated among all who could have any influence on the decision-making, Vahram Kazhoyan said.

Before Turkey would submit the application, the Armenian side had been frequently raising the issue of the state of Armenian cultural heritage in Turkey.

“Had Turkey tried to submit the application without mentioning the Armenian belonging of the city, it would be rejected by the expert group of the Committee,” Deputy Minister of Culture Nerses Ter-Vardanyan said.

Turkey’s initial bid was called “Cultural landscape of Ani,” which was quickly rejected with many questions raised about the belonging of the city, its cultural layers, maintenance, and especially the work done since 1918,” he said.

The Deputy Minister praised the final application submitted by Turkey. “Of course it was not ideal, but not bad,” he said.

Twenty-two cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were reported overnight.

The rival fired more than 380 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions using firearms and sniper rifles, the NKR Defense Ministry said.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep control of the situation at the line of contact and confidently continue with their military duty.