Category: News

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Yerevan on July 4, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharov said on Tuesday, reports.

“The ministers will discuss current problems of international and regional security, cooperation on the international arena,” she said.

The CSTO top diplomats will also exchange views on “combating terrorism and extremism in the light of the situation in the Middle East and Afghanistan,” she said.

Moscow “hopes the Yerevan meeting will make a major contribution to the implementation of agreements reached at the top level,” Zakharova said.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has called the Russia-mediated meeting with Azerbaijani President as useful for easing tensions in the long-running Karabakh conflict.

“The trilateral meetings play a positive role,” President Sargsyan said in an interview with .

“Of course, the situation at the conflict zone is much calmer than three, five or six months and even a year ago. The Azerbaijani forces keep shooting from time to time, but mostly use weapons of small calibers,” the President said.

Serzh Sargsyan said in St. Petersburg the parties agreed to strengthen the monitoring of the ceasefire regime, develop a mechanism of investigation of incidents in the conflict zone under the auspices of the OSCE.

“We also agreed to continue the meetings in trilateral format. The negotiation process under the aegis of the OSCE Minsk Group will also continue,” he added.

Photo: AP

Microsoft has agreed to pay a Californian woman $10,000 (£7,500) after an automatic Windows 10 update left her computer unusable.

Teri Goldstein said her Windows 7 computer had automatically tried to update itself to Windows 10 without her permission.

She said the update had made her machine unstable, leaving her unable to use it to run her business.

Microsoft said it had dropped its appeal to save on legal costs.

Microsoft has been aggressively pushing the latest version of its widely used operating system, which is currently available as a free download for computers running Windows 7 and 8.

However, many people have chosen not to upgrade, because they are running old hardware, have software that does not run on Windows 10, are concerned over the software’s tracking features, or simply do not want it.

Photo: Reuters    

A gun and bomb attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk international airport has killed at least 10 people and injured others, with reports of at least one suicide bomber, the BBC reports.

At least 20 people were also wounded with casualties being reportedly rushed to hospital in taxis.

Police opened fire to stop the suspects at an entry point, Reuters reports.

“Ten people have been killed according to a preliminary toll,” Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said.

“According to the information I was given, a terrorist at the international terminal entrance first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew himself up,” the minister added, according to the Associated Press.

Turkey will not pay compensation to Russia over the downing of a fighter jet last year and has only expressed regret over the incident, prime minister Binali Yildirim has said, after president Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered a conciliatory hand to Moscow over the incident that shattered ties between the two countries, reports.

Yildirim’s statement on Tuesday appeared to contradict a statement he made to public TV network TRT on Monday evening, in which he said Turkey would pay compensation “if necessary.”

Yildirim also indicated that Erdogan would speak with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, this week over how to rebuild ties between the two countries, which back opposite sides in the Syrian war.

Yildirim also said legal proceedings were under way against an individual allegedly responsible for the killing of the Russian pilot.

On 27 June Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received primate of the New Nakhichevan and Russian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Patriarchic exarch Archbishop Yezras Nersisyan, philanthropists from Diaspora Hayk Maghakelyan and Vahe Karapetyan.

Issues related to the Motherland-Diaspora, church-state ties and implementation of a range of programs in Artsakh were discussed during the meeting.

President Sahakyan noted that the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora trinity was among the cornerstones of our state-building process adding that the presence of Diaspora was tangible in almost all spheres of our republic’s life.

Georgian Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli signed a decree on abolition of compulsory conscription to the republic’s armed forces, Interfax reports.

The Georgian Defense Ministry will cease to perform compulsory military conscription starting on June 27, the minister told reporters.

“The armed forces do not need servicemen who were forcefully enlisted,” she said.

As defense minister she is entitled to adopt such a decision; however, her successor can abolish it if this is deemed prudent, Khidasheli said.

Armenia expects more countries to recognize the 1915 massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire a century ago as genocide after remarks by Pope Francis and the stance taken by Germany’s parliament, President Serzh Sargsyan has said.

Germany’s lower house adopted a resolution this month declaring the killings of Christian Armenians by Ottoman forces in World War One a “genocide.”

During a visit to Armenia on Friday, the pope departed from his prepared text to use the term, angering Turks.

“The principled position of the pope and the views expressed by the Bundestag will pave the way for new recognitions by other nations,” President Serzh Sargsyan told in an interview.

“Germany is a very important and significant actor on the international stage and this decision will serve as a good example for other nations to follow and to learn from it,” he said.

Sargsyan criticized Turkey’s position over its aspiration to join the European Union, saying Ankara was trying to use a policy of dictatorship to bring pressure to bear on the bloc.

“I don’t think that Turkey is … an actor that can impose its views, or exercise pressure, on the European Union,” he said.

“I don’t honestly see any prospects that would pave the way for Turkey joining the EU.”

Artak Barseghyan
Public Radio of Armenia

“NATO views the countries of the South Caucasus as potential partners with Georgia being an aspirant for membership. I do not see NATO membership as realistic for Georgia any time soon, however. There is no consensus in the Alliance on Georgia’s membership,” Paul Stronski, Senior Associate at Carnegie Foundation, said in an internet press conference for Armenian media.

“On Armenia, as an ally of Russia, it is firmly in Russia’s security orbit.  But, NATO will still continue to engage with Armenia and appreciates the partnership it has had with NATO throughout the past twenty years.  I’d also note that Armenian military reform is generally modeled after NATO and the United States, so there are clear incentives on the Armenian side to keep good ties with NATO despite Yerevan’s security alliance with Moscow. However, I do not see the relationship between NATO and Armenia getting any closer in the immediate future,” he said.

“I do not see any prospects for NATO membership for Armenia or Azerbaijan.  Neither country seems interested in membership.  NATO says the door is always open, but many NATO members are not keen to enlarge the alliance any further east,” he added.

Is there a possibility for exclusion of Turkey from the Alliance, considering that Turkey is playing back-door games with ISIS and in light of deterioration of relations between Ankara and Brussels?

“I am neither an expert on Turkey nor ISIS, so I cannot really answer this question.  I think many governments in the West are frustrated with Turkey right now given Erdogan’s increasing authoritarianism, and unpredictable foreign and domestic politics. But, Turkey is a long-standing and important member of the NATO alliance.  The goal of the alliance is to increase the security of its members, and I still think that most NATO members believe that Turkish membership in NATO enhances their security.  I do not see their exclusion from the alliance anytime soon,” the expert said.