Category: News

Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s sister has dropped a heavy hint that the Dortmund star will sign for Arsenal this summer – by following the Gunners on LinkedIn, according to .

The Armenia international looks set to leave the Bundesliga giants this summer and both the Gunners and Manchester United are interested.

The 27-year-old is out of contract next summer and Dortmund chief Michael Zorc admitted the club will be forced into making a decision over the midfielder’s future this week.

Jose Mourinho is known to be a huge admirer of the former Shakhtar Donetsk star but Arsenal are thought to be leading the chase with the midfielder preferring a move to London.

With Mkhitaryan remaining tight-lipped over his future, the midfielder’s sister may just have let the cat out of the bag by recently following Arsenal on social networking site LinkedIn.

Monika Mkhitaryan works for UEFA and doesn’t follow a single football club on LinkedIn – other than Arsenal.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan congratulated their Russian counterparts Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin on the National Day of Russia despite the ongoing tensions between the countries, Turkish broadcaster CNN Türk reported, citing government sources. Yildirim and Erdogan sent letters to their counterparts for Russia’s national day celebrated on June 12, according to reports.

“On behalf of Turkish people, I celebrate the National Day of Russian people. Moreover, I hope that the relations between Russia and Turkey reach the level that it deserves in the near future,” Erdogan wrote in the letter to the Russian President, while Yildirim voiced a similar wish in his letter to Medvedev.

“I hope that the cooperation and relations between our countries reach the level necessary for the common goals of our people soon. I wish health and prosperity to all the Russians,” Yildirim said.

 

 

 

The international organizations, the civilized humanity and the superpowers should take necessary steps to free more than 350 thousand Yazidis in Mosul, Northern Iraq and prevent the annihilation of Yazidis, Aziz Tamoyan, Chairman of the Union of Yazidis of Armenia and the World, told reporters today.

He called on Yazidis of the world and the civilized mankind to be united in the fight against the Islamic State and to take relevant steps to ensure the security of the Yazidi population of Iraq

“The IS militants are an evil to the world, and our goals is to reach the condemnation of their actions,” he said.

Journalist and human rights advocate Hasan Tamoyan reminded that the Armenian President was the first to raise the issue of the threat of annihilation of Yazidis on the international arena.

The Armenian legislative initiative of labeling the atrocities against Yazidis as genocide is an important step that will lead to other recognitions, Hasan Tamoyan said.

“The United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union and other international organizations have already recognized the events as genocide, which comes to prove that the civilized world is not indifferent towards the pain of Yazidis,” Hasan Tamoyan said. He stressed the need for more intensified and effective efforts in fighting the Islamic State.

The human rights advocate is concerned by the fact that “Iraqi Yazidis have become victims of political games” and blames those claiming leadership of the Yazidi community of Iraq for the situation. He called on Yazidis to unite and thus contribute to international efforts of fighting the Islamic State.

“As a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, the United States is strongly committed to a peaceful and lasting settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We appreciate hearing from you on this issue and are glad for the opportunity to speak to you directly about what work we’re doing to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and address humanitarian issues,” to a petition by Elkhan Suleimanov, chairman of the Association for Development of Civic Society in Azerbaijan launched on the “We the People” section of the White House website.

The petition called on the Obama administration “to assist in the prevention of a humanitarian catastrophe in the region” because of the dangers posed by the neglected Sarsang water reservoir.”

In the response the White House said: “We have read Resolution 2085 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and, although the United States is not a member of PACE, we welcome opportunities to exchange views on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process with any interested interlocutor.”

“On May 16, 2016, Secretary of State John Kerry participated in discussions with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and French State Secretary for European Affairs Harlem Desir. Presidents Sargsyan and Aliyev reaffirmed their respect for the ceasefire, accepted confidence-building measures to reduce the risk of violence along the Line of Contact and Armenia-Azerbaijan border, and agreed to another round of talks in June, with a view toward resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement,” the statement reads.

“We continue to urge the sides to demonstrate restraint and enter into an immediate negotiation on a comprehensive settlement, which would include the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan’s control and a determination of Nagorno-Karabakh’s status,” the White House said.

“As part of our ongoing dialogue with the sides, we have and will continue to facilitate discussions related to humanitarian issues. Management and maintenance of the Sarsang Reservoir is one such issue. We welcome a meeting between technical experts from the sides to discuss water management and dam inspections. The co-chairs are ready to facilitate such a meeting,” the response reads.

“Ultimately, a resolution of this longstanding conflict depends on the political will of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. As a Minsk Group co-chair country, we will continue our efforts to advance peace and prosperity in the region,” the White House stressed.

The situation remained calm at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan last night, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The rival used mostly firearms as it violated the agreement on ceasefire, the Ministry said.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army refrained from response actions and continued with the reliable protection of the military positions.

Global climate risk management issues will be discussed at a three-day workshop organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Armenia and the RA Ministry of Nature Protection.

The Integrated Climate Risk Programme, funded by the Government of Sweden and implemented by the UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, is planned for the period of 2013-2016. The first phase of the programme was implemented in six countries: Armenia, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, and Uganda. The project is aimed at helping countries to build resilience through risk-informed development, in order to tackle climate change and related natural hazards.

The global results-sharing workshop will provide opportunities to reflect on and share the results and good practices from across the six participating countries in order to improve the resilience and effectiveness of interventions globally.

The workshop will also address sustainability and replicability issues of the programme results with the aim of linking them to broader global partnership initiatives and support networks. In this context, the participants will help to shape UNDP’s integrated tool for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into the development agenda. Additionally, the workshop will support countries in the preparation of sustainability plans for the programme’s next phase and the new global partnership initiative “5-10-50”.

A field trip to Vayots Dzor region will be organized to showcase Armenia’s climate-resilient rural communities’ project, implemented within the framework of the programme.

President Serzh Sargsyan sent today a congratulatory message to the Pulitzer Prize winner, poet Peter Balakian on the occasion of his 65th birth anniversary and wished him excellent health, happiness and prolific literary work.

“You have once again raised the theme of the Armenian Genocide in the American literature and have once again reminded the world community on the tragedy of our nation and our rebirth.

Your creations, which are full of high morality and fascinating charm, are love and appreciated by many readers as well as by the critics which is vividly testified to by the Pulitzer Prize recently awarded to you. Your literature is all-human and lasting. In Armenia, we love you and we are proud of you,” reads the congratulatory message of the President of Armenia.

President Serzh Sargsyan has offered condolences to US President Barack Obama over the horrific terrorist act in an Orlando club that left at least 50 killed and dozens injured, the President’s Press Office reported.

President Sargsyan strongly criticized this nasty expression of intolerance and underlined that “this tragedy that befell the friendly American people proved once again that all expressions of hatred, fighting which is a collective duty and mission of all, still remains a most serious challenge to mankind even in the 21^st century.”

Renowned Armenian singer, RA People’s Artist Ofelya Hambardzumyan has passed away aged 91.

She had been the soloist of the Aram Merangulyan Folk Instruments Ensemble of Public Radio of Armenia since 1944.

Her repertoire includes classical Armenian music and folk songs. She is especially recognized for her interpretations of Sayat-Nova’s songs. She has also performed the music of Fahrad, Jivani, Sheram.

In 1959 Ofelya Hambardzumyan was awarded the People’s Artist of the USSR. In 2011 she was awarded the Mesrop Mashtots Medal.

Investigation has been launched against a Turkish judge for posting photos with Armenian writer on Facebok and Twitter, reports, quoting the Turkish Hurriyet daily.

The Turkish Council of Judges and Prosecutors opened investigation against Cemal Sain, a member of the Istanbul Court of Appeals after the judge posted a photo of himself, his two daughters and Armenian writer Migirdic Margosyan on social media. He’s also condemned for criticism of the Turkish state and its law-enforcement system.

The judge has refused from giving testimony, saying he has not violated any law with the publications, especially considering that no charge has been filed.

“Where there is no charge, there is no defense,” Sahin said.