Category: News

In her first public address as will discuss how grassroots initiatives in conflict-afflicted communities are influencing humanitarian engagement and shifting the rules of engagement, the official website of the Aurora Prize reports.

Germany is now playing a key role in two issues of vital importance to Armenia – the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The issues were high on the agenda of the meeting of the Vice-Presidents of the two countries’ Parliaments today.

As an OSCE presiding country Germany is trying to play a practical role in the establishment of peace in the region, Vice-President of the Bundestag Edelgard Bulmahn told a press conference at the Armenian National Assembly today.

“The German Parliament supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group and attaches importance to the implementation of the agreements reached at the Vienna meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. We hope the ceasefire will be maintained, and the agreements will not remain on paper,” she said.

“Germany is confident that there can be no military solution to the Karabakh conflict,” Mrs. Bulmahn said. “We do hope that the agreements on ceasefire will serve a basis for the resumption of talks based on the fundamental principles proposed by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs,” she added.

Vice-President of the Armenian National Assembly Edward Sharmazanov reiterated that the negotiation can resume and proceed only in case the agreements reached in Vienna are respected. “The implementation of monitoring and investigation mechanisms at the line of contact is extremely important to Armenia,” he said.

On June 2 the Bundestag is expected to vote on a bill condemning the Armenian genocide. The resolution is a result of consensus between three political forces, which makes its passage more likely.

“With this resolution we’ll commemorate the Armenian Genocide victims, condemn the crimes against the Armenians and other Christian peoples and acknowledge the complicity of the German authorities,” the Bundestag Vice-President said.

“Germany has managed to reconcile with Israel, France and Germany. I think it’s a hard, but possible political path for Armenia and Turkey to re-establish relations and re-launch dialogue,” she said.

Tomorrow the Bundestag Vice-President will meet with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

Mordecai Paldiel and Zvika Kichel, Charles Aznavour confirmed the riveting story of courage in which his late parents, Knar and Mischa, as well as his sister Aida and himself, had played a key role during the dark days of the Nazi occupation in France.

With a great sense of humbleness, so characteristic of him, Aznavour told how his parents gave shelter at their own home to Jews, Armenians and others who were persecuted by the Nazis. By so doing, the Aznavours had given the gift of life to other, while risking their own.

The IRWF has resolved to set-up a special research team to further investigate the feats of the Aznavour family and at the same time, all the Board Members of the NGO have unanimously decided to pay tribute to the Aznavours.

In a personal letter signed by the Chairman of the IRWF, Mr. Eduardo Eurnekian and by its Founder, Mr. Baruch Tenembaum, Mr. Aznavour was greeted on his 92th birthday and informed about two initiatives. The first one is to commission a special commemorative stamp to be issued by the Israel Postal Authority with the semblance of Mischa and Knar Aznavour, Charles’s late parents. The second one is to award the Raoul Wallenberg Medal to both siblings, Aida and Charles Aznavour, who as young people helped their parents in their life-saving mission.

Eduardo Eurnekian said – “The Aznavour family is an example of humble and decent people who did not stand idly by when faced with evil. His mother, Knar, nee Baghdasarian, was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide and she understood the plight of the Jewish people and all those who were brutally persecuted by Nazism. It is our duty to recognize the heroism of the Aznavour family and instill their spirit of civic courage in the hearts and minds of the young generations”.

The letter reads:

Dear Mr. Aznavour,

Let us start this letter by congratulating you on 92th birthday! We wish you good health and many more years of productiveness in your artistic, diplomatic and humanitarian activities!

We would like to thank you once again for having agreed to meet our Dr. Mordecai Paldiel and Mr. Zvika Kichel in New York. We watched the video of this meeting and were deeply moved by your humble approach and the courageous deeds undertaken by your dear late parents, your sister Aida and yourself, during the dark days of Holocaust. We also thank your son, Nicolas, for having arranged this gathering in such an efficient way.

As a result of this preliminary audience, we have instructed our research team to try and secure more information about the feats of your family during WWII and of course, we shall keep you duly posted.

At the same time, in a special meeting held by our Board, it has been unanimously resolved to pay tribute to your late parents, Mischa and Knar, as well as both you and Aida, as a token of recognition to your spirit of solidarity. The fact that you have given shelter and protection at your own home, to people from all faiths who were persecuted by the Nazis, is something that has to be remembered and recognized. We have therefore resolved to ask the Israeli Postal Authorities to make a special and limited stamp issue dedicated to your late parents. Should this be agreeable, our team in Israel will contact Nicolas with some administrative information (we would need some good photos of your parents as well as a written authorization from you to approach the Israel Postal Authorities).

Furthermore, it was decided to bestow upon you and your sister Aida, a special award, the Raoul Wallenberg Medal, in recognition of the role you played during the Shoah and for your staunch and consistent support of humanitarian causes.

As soon as we receive the acceptance from you and your sister, we shall coordinate with you the details and logistics of the award ceremony.

Thanking you in advance, we remain at your disposal should you require any further information on our end.”

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Representative on the South Caucasus, Kristian Vigenin (MP, Bulgaria), today concluded a two-day visit to Armenia and called for increased parliamentary support for efforts for a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In Yerevan, the Special Representative met with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Vice-President of the Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov, and with senior members of parliament including from the OSCE PA delegation, the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and leaders of several parliamentary parties. He also visited the OSCE Office in Yerevan, and met with representatives of civil society.

“Following the important meeting last week in Vienna of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, it is crucial that we follow up these efforts with support at the parliamentary level. The agreements of the presidents to finalize an OSCE investigative mechanism and to expand the OSCE presence in the conflict zone are important steps that can help reduce the risk of violence,” said the Special Representative.

“I hope that these agreements will be built upon in another high-level meeting in the near future. While negotiations continue within the Minsk Group process on a comprehensive settlement, I believe that dialogue at the parliamentary level can help produce a climate that is conducive to peace,” he added.

On 16 May, meeting with the Foreign Ministers of the Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism and agreed to the expansion of the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

“Work at the parliamentary level can help encourage political will from the sides in the region to engage in serious efforts to negotiate a comprehensive settlement within the framework of the Minsk Group,” said Vigenin, who expressed his support for the work of the Minsk Group and its Co-Chairs to facilitate a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“On the basis of my talks both here and later this week in Baku, I will propose some concrete ideas for further dialogue and engagement at the parliamentary level, and look forward to discussing these during the OSCE PA Annual Session in Tbilisi in early July,” he said.

The Special Representative spoke with a range of political actors and civil society representatives particularly regarding the constitutional and electoral reforms in the country.

“I continue to closely follow developments in Armenia, and was pleased to learn more about the process surrounding the ongoing electoral reform. The OSCE will continue to follow these developments closely, and I encourage all parties to take a constructive and inclusive approach to this process,” he added.

Vigenin reiterated the strong support of the Parliamentary Assembly for the work of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, and expressed his appreciation for the good co-operation that the Office enjoys with the government and civil society.

The Special Representative continues his travels this week with visits to Georgia and to Azerbaijan where high-level meetings are expected.

Vigenin was appointed Special Representative by OSCE PA President Ilkka Kanerva in February 2016. In his mandate, he is tasked with promoting dialogue in all segments of society, in particular at the parliamentary level, in order to encourage reconciliation and rehabilitation with regard to the protracted conflicts in the region.

This week’s visit is his first to the region as Special Representative. Vigenin is a former Foreign Minister of Bulgaria and currently serves as Deputy Head of the OSCE PA’s Bulgarian Delegation.

New satellite imagery appears to reveal extensive damage to a strategically significant airbase in central Syria used by Russian forces after an attack by so-called Islamic State (IS), the BBC reports.

Four helicopters and 20 lorries were destroyed in a series of fires inside the T4 base last week, the images from intelligence company suggest.

The cause of the fires is unconfirmed.

Russia has not officially commented on the incident.

“The issue of 800 hectares of land lost during the April war will probably be on the agenda of negotiations,” Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan told reporters on the sidelines of the unveiling of a statue to Marshal Hamazasp Babajanyan.

“We’ll never forget those territories just like we never forget our historic lands, ” the Minister said.

“The territories are within the borders of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and I think the issue will be raised during the talks,” he added.

Minister Ohanyan said the situation at the Karabakh conflict zone is currently calm. “We keep in touch with the NKR Defense Army. We try to observe the ceasefire, divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep the situation under control,” he noted.

Appointment of a new Prime Minister will not result in changes either in domestic, or in foreign policy of Turkey, historian Gevorg Melkonyan told reporters today.

“Persons change, policies don’t. Expecting any changes in Turkey’s foreign policy, especially with regard to its relations with neighbors, is senseless,” expert of Turkish studies Gevorg Petrosyan said, in turn. He believes the new PM will remain under President Erdogan’s influence, and his first statements come to prove this.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday appointed one of his most trusted allies to form Turkey’s new government, in a move seen to help consolidate his hold on power.

Binali Yildirim, the transportation and communications minister and a founding member of the ruling party, was tapped to replace Ahmet Davutoglu who stepped down amid growing differences with Erdogan, including his wish to overhaul the constitution to give the largely ceremonial presidency executive powers.

Yildirim has said he would work to legalize the “de facto” presidential system by introducing a new constitution to that effect.

The appointment of the 60-year-old politician came hours after the ruling party confirmed him as party chairman, and he immediately expressed allegiance to the Turkish leader, vowing to follow his path. 

Gevorg Petrosyan considers that Turkey will stiffen its foreign policy, especially in the relations with the European Union.

“The main role-player in Turkey remains unchanged, therefore, the general policy line will not change, either, including on Armenia-related issues,” Petrosyan said.

According to Gevorg Melkonyan, “Turkey has chosen the path of solving issues with tougher steps, and an evidence of this is the fact that Turkey increased its military contingent at the Syria border following Davutoglu’s resignation,” he said.

“One can assume that the more Turkey accelerates the military actions with regard to the Syrian and Kurdish issues, the stiffer the policy Azerbaijan will adopt on the Nagorno Karabakh settlement,” the historian said.

The Syrian Arab Army’s 137th Artillery Brigade of the Republican Guard – backed by the 104th Airborne Brigade of the Republican Guard – imposed full control over the Armenian Cemetery of Deir Ezzor after a violent battle with the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) on Sunday,  reports.

The Syrian Armed Forces were able to liberate this strategic site in western Deir Ezzor after repelling the Islamic State’s offensive at the Panorama Checkpoint. As a result of ISIS’ failed offensive at the Panorama Checkpoint, the Syrian Armed Forces took the opportunity to strike back against the terrorist group and recapture the Armenian Cemetery.

According to Yarob Zahreddine of the 104th Airborne Brigade, the Syrian Armed Forces killed several ISIS terrorists during the battle for the Armenian Cemetery, including several foreign terrorists from North Africa.

Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS

    The lower house of the Tajik parliament has unanimously approved on Friday the amendments to the country’s current Constitution enshrining Emomali Rahmon’s right to be president for life,  reports.

These amendments will take effect after being reviewed by the Constitutional Court and popular support at the referendum whose date will be determined later.

According to the new wording of Article 66 of the country’s Constitution, “a person at least 30 years old who has a command of the state language and who has lived in the country for at least 10 past years can be nominated for the post of Tajikistan’s president.” Lawmaker Mahmadali Vatanzoda noted that it was planned to supplement this article with the following content: “The restrictions envisaged in this article do not apply to the founder of “peace and national unity – leader of the nation.” This legal status was conferred on incumbent President Emomali Rahmon by parliamentarians on December 9, 2015.

Among other significant amendments to Tajikistan’s Constitution are a ban on religious and nationalist political parties and associations and the abolition of the Council of Justice. The activity of foreign political parties is banned as well. The Constitution enshrines the presidential form of government, which has actually been in force since 1994. All these amendments will take effect after a national referendum.

Emomali Rahmon has been the head of state since 1992.

Photo: AP

At least 65 people have been killed in multiple blasts in Syrian government coastal strongholds, reports say, the BBC reports.

Explosions hit the cities of Tartous and Jableh. Several of the blasts were suicide bombings, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

State media said packed bus stations and a hospital were among the targets.

Attacks of this scale are rare in these areas. A news agency linked to so-called Islamic State (IS) says the jihadist group was behind the attacks.