Category: News

– A proposed resolution calling on the German government to recognize the early 20th-century Ottoman Empire’s violence against the Armenians as genocide is important, as it may put an end to Turkey’s policy of denial, lawmaker from Germany’s Left Party Sevim Dagdelen told Sputnik Turkey.

On Monday, German lawmakers proposed the resolution, condemning the mass killings of Armenians ordered by the Ottoman government during World War I as genocide, for a parliamentary vote.

“I believe that this resolution is very important, because it can play a major role in the rejection of Turkey’s Genocide denial policy,” Dagdelen said in the interview.

According to the lawmaker, the parliamentary vote, which is set to be held on June 2, will be an important step in preparing the grounds for a reconciliation between the Armenians and the Turks and in establishing a dialogue between them.

“Thus Germany can do something that Turkey failed to implement,” she added.

The lawmaker said that she believes the resolution will be adopted by the parliament. According to Dagdelen, the June parliamentary vote will not result in serious tensions between Turkey and Germany.

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon has resigned, saying he lacked trust in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the BBC reports.

It comes amid moves by Mr Netanyahu to bring hardliner Avigdor Lieberman and his party into the ruling coalition, likely offering him the defence post.

Announcing his decision on Twitter, Mr Yaalon said: “I informed the PM that after his conduct and recent developments, and given the lack of faith in him, I am resigning from the government and parliament and taking a break from political life.”

It also follows a public disagreement between the two men after Mr Yaalon backed a senior military figure, who made controversial remarks about Israeli society on Holocaust Day earlier this month.

Photo: Sputnik/ Mikhail Voskresenskiy

 

Russian helicopter pilots began working out nighttime flights in mountainous terrain in Armenia aboard Mi-24P attack helicopters and Mi-8MT military transport helicopters, the Southern Military District (SMD) said in a statement Friday, Sputnik News reports.

Instructors at the district’s Erebuni air base would focus on imparting the knowledge of instrumental control on young pilots, according to the district press service.

“During the training, pilots will practice flying at night at altitudes of 1,500 meters [49,200 feet] to 4,000 meters [13,100 feet] above sea level, accessing a given area, conduct aerial reconnaissance and detect simulated enemy positions,” the press service said.

The Mi-24P and Mi-8MT helicopters were transferred to Erebuni, incorporated into an air division of the Russian 102nd Military Base in Gyumri in 2001, in December 2015.

The Foreign Ministry of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic issued the following statement today:

On May 17, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry voiced another farfetched accusation of the alleged use of prohibited ammunition, including shells with white phosphorus, during the military operations on April 2-5, 2016.

Continuing its usual campaign of disinformation of the international community, Azerbaijan does not disdain resorting to fraud and outright manipulation. To add weight to its propaganda, the Azerbaijani side tries to involve foreign diplomats and military attaches accredited in Azerbaijan.

Falsification and distortion of the reality have long become regular, constituting an integral part of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy. Back in 1992, the Azerbaijani side made similar accusations of the alleged use of chemical weapons, which were then denied by the UN special fact-finding mission. Based on the findings and conclusions of the UN experts set forth in the UN Security Council document S/24344 dated July 24, 1992, the UN Secretary-General noted that “no evidence of the use of chemical weapons had been presented to the team”.

In subsequent years, the Azerbaijani side has been making similar absurd and unconfirmed accusations of the use of nuclear weapons against Azerbaijan in 1993 and disposal of nuclear wastes in the NKR (PACE document N 9444 dated May 7, 2002), transformation of Armenia and the NKR to a depot of bacteriological weapons (PACE document N9336 dated January 31, 2002), cultivation and production of drugs, etc. In doing so, the Azerbaijani side referred to nonexistent scientific journals, reports, organizations, and laboratories.

Resurrecting its old allegations, Azerbaijan does not only try to justify its policy of use of force and denial of full and strict compliance with the ceasefire agreements of 1994 and 1995, on which the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairing countries insist, but also aims to distract the attention from the real war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani army against the military servicemen and civilian population of the NKR.

In this regard, we call on the international community to treat the unfounded statements of the Azerbaijani side with utmost criticism.

For its part, the NKR is ready to host a special monitoring mission for an on-site study of all the facts and investigation of the circumstances of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan on April 2-5, 2016, as well as the violations of the norms of international humanitarian law committed during that period.

Vice-Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, Head of the Armenia-Greece Deputy Friendship Group Edward Sharmazanov has left for Athens to participate in events dedicated to the anniversaries of the Armenian and Greek genocides.

Today Edward Sharmazanov is scheduled to meet with First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Anastasios Kourakis and representatives of the Greece-Armenia Deputy Friendship Group.

On May 22 he will have a meeting with Defense Minister Panos Kammenos.

Former Defense Minister of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Movses Hakobyan has been appointed Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia, Chief of the Logistics Department.

A corresponding decree was signed today by President Serzh Sargsyan.

President Serzh Sargsyan received today Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who has arrived in Yerevan to participate in the regular sitting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Yerevan.

President Sargsyan briefed the Russian PM on the results of the Vienna discussions. “We’ve reached an agreement on the monitoring of ceasefire violations and implementation of a mechanism of investigation of border incidents. We’re ready to do our best to exclude ceasefire violation, and I do hope that the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries will be consistent in implementing the decisions,” he said.

Dmitry Medvedev, in turn. expressed gratitude for hosting the meeting of the EEU Intergovernmental Council in Armenia and voiced confidence that the member countries would reach agreements necessary for boosting their economies.

He said Russia is closely following the developments in the Karabakh conflict zone and doing the utmost to help settle the current situation.

“It’s important to maintain the current ceasefire regime. In this context we welcome your meeting with the President of Azerbaijan in Vienna, and support the efforts within the framework of the OSCE Mink Group aimed at maintaining dialogue, and preventing such incidents in the future, taking into consideration of the agreements reached in 1994-1995 and with a view of ensuring stronger peace in the region and moving towards a final settlement to the Karabakh conflict,” Medvedev said.

“You can rest assured that Russia has always assisted and will keep assisting in the settlement of this complex issue,” the Prime Minister noted.

President Serzh Sargsyan had a phone talk with US Vice-President Joe Biden at the initiative of the American side.

Issues related to the current stage of settlement of the Karabakh conflict were discussed.

The parties attached importance to the full and effective implementation of the agreements reached at the Vienna meeting held on May 16 at the initiative of the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries.

The interlocutors agreed that the settlement of the issue is possible only in a peaceful way within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship.

A massive search is continuing for a second day for an EgyptAir plane that disappeared over the Mediterranean, the BBC reports.

Greek, Egyptian, French and UK military units are taking part in the operation near Greece’s Karpathos island.

Flight MS804 was en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew when it vanished early on Thursday.

Greece said radar showed the Airbus A320 had made two sharp turns and dropped more than 7,620m before plunging into the sea.

Egypt says the plane was more likely to have been brought down by a terrorist act than a technical fault.

Most of the people on board Flight MS804 were from Egypt and France. A Briton was also among the passengers.

So far, no wreckage or debris from the aircraft has been found.