Category: News

President Serzh Sargsyan received today Menno Snel, Executive Director of the IMF Netherlands/Belgium Constituency.

President Sargsyan thanked Mr. Snel for properly representing Armenia’s interests in the IMF in the course of the past five years.

Taking into consideration that Menno Snel will be completing his mission in the near future, the President wished him success in his future activity and voiced hope that the cooperation with the next IMF Director would be as effective and constructive.

Serzh Sargsyan hailed the role of the IMF in the execution of Armenia’s economic policy, underlining that considerable economic reforms have been implemented thanks to long-term cooperation with that authoritative financial organization.

Irrespective of a number of challenges, the negative external signals, it has been possible to achieve certain progress through joint efforts with the IMF, the President said and stressed that Armenia is interested in continuous cooperation with the IMF.

Menno Snel also praised the Armenia-IMF relations and the joint programs, noting that solid bases have been created for future cooperation.

The Azerbaijani side used artillery weapons of various calibers, as well as 60, 82 and 120 mm mortars and hand-held antitank grenade launchers, as it kept violating the agreement on ceasefire along the line of contact with the Karabakh forces last night, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army showed restraint and resorted to response actions only in case of extreme necessity.

The anti-aircraft defense and electronic warfare divisions of RA Armed Forces neutralized an unmanned flying vehicle near Yelpin community in Vayots Dzor province.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhannisyan uploaded the photos of the downed drone on his Facebook page.

Further details about the ownership and production of the drone will be provided later.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is set to decide his future within the next 10 days, according to the Borussia Dortmund midfielder’s agent, according to .

The Armenia international has failed to agree a new contract with the Bundesliga club after another impressive season in the German top flight.

Mkhitaryan has just over a year remaining on his current Dortmund deal which has alerted interest from Premier League side Arsenal in recent months.

However, the Gunners are expected to face competition from their domestic rivals Chelsea and Liverpool, who attempted to sign the playmaker in 2014.

Mkhitaryan’s agent handed the playmaker’s suitors a boost after he provided an update on the Dortmund star’s future ahead of the end of the season.

“Nothing has been decided,” Mino Raiola told Bild. “But in the next ten days, there should be more clarity.”

The 27-year-old has netted 11 goals and has made 15 assists in 31 Bundesliga games for Thomas Tuchel’s Europa League quarter-finalists this term.

The Human Rights Defender of Nagorno Karabakh, Ruben Melikyan, has addressed an open letter to organizers of Eurovision Song Contest 2016:

Dear ladies and gentlemen of the EBU and the Reference Group,

My name is Ruben Melikyan. I am the elected Human Rights Defender of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), a democracy located between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. I should proudly and humbly protect the freedom and human rights of the Nagorno-Karabakh people, approximately 150 000 peaceful civilians — men, women, children and elderly — all living between two European countries. I am a European, whose country is denied access to the European community and whose flag has found itself amidst anger, fear, embarrassment, shame, and most importantly, apathy. This resulted in your official statement of May 11 of 2016.

First of all, on behalf of the people of Karabakh, I would like to express my strong disagreement with your statement’s language that described the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a mere territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We, the people of the NKR, have been exercising our fundamental and undeniable right to self-determination since 1991 by declaring and defending our independence from Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. It was done in full conformity with International Law and then-applicable Soviet Constitutional Law. Thus, your description of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is inaccurate and offensive to my people, and adds injury to an insult.

Secondly, I would like to kindly draw your attention to the events of April 2-5, 2016, which probably determined the song contestant’s very understandable personal motivation to exhibit the NKR National flag.

I’d also like to kindly draw your attention to the facts, well-documented in the Interim Public Report of the NKR Human Rights Defender, recording all the atrocities and violations committed by Azerbaijani military forces from April 2 to April 5 of 2016.
We documented beheadings that happened in Europe, murders and dismemberments of elderlies that happened in Europe, intensive shelling of schools and dwellings that happened in Europe just 40 days ago. And as a responsible European, who cares about European values and seeks democracy and peace, the song contestant merely called for peace and unity amidst these barbaric atrocities by exhibiting the flag of the NKR, for the people who have lost their lives, just 40 days ago, on a land that is our home. Nevertheless, you threatened to sanction the participant, silencing an adequate and humble expression of her freedom of speech.
Europe is united over the values of fundamental human rights, and at the core of these values is freedom of speech. As the subject of the speech is of extraordinary importance, there should not be any restriction whatsoever for freedom of expression. ISIS-style beheadings and other terrible war crimes of Azerbaijani armed forces were committed just 40 days ago, and Azerbaijan is threatening openly to repeat them if my people do not obey the rule of Azerbaijani Republic, a country with state-fueled policy of Armenophobia.

Ladies and gentlemen,
These circumstances can be named no other way but extraordinary. Accordingly your statement on enforcement of your Rule 1.2.2h can be named no other way but an overreaction to a mere reminder of the situation by a mere exhibition of a National Flag.

I kindly call for your conscious as Europeans to remember the fundamental values of Europe, incorporated in the teachings of John Locke, Voltaire, Kant, and not of the likes of Hitler and Mussolini. I kindly call upon you to take the side of peace and unity. And finally I kindly ask you to remain in the framework of the Song Contest format and to not enter the field of international politics.

The Turkish minister for European Union affairs has told the he is losing hope of getting a deal on visa-free travel for Turks within Europe.

Volkan Bozkir said changing anti-terror laws in Turkey would be impossible.

The EU insists that Turkey needs to narrow its definition of terrorism – as well as meet four other key criteria – to qualify for visa-free travel.

It is part of a larger agreement between the two sides aimed at easing Europe’s migration crisis.

On Wednesday, Mr Bozkir told the BBC that his hopes of getting visa-free travel for Turkish nationals were “getting less and less”.

He admitted that the negotiations had reached a crucial phase, stressing that Turkey had already done enough.

His comments came after a day of meetings with senior members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

 

 

 

Armenian Revolutionary Federation Hai Tahd Committee representatives consulted with the Nagorno Karabakh Republic President Bako Sahakian this week at Artsakh’s Tigranakert Muesum Conplex. They met with reporters in Yerevan today to present the results of the discussions.

The four-day war and its consequences were high on the agenda.  Hakob Ter-Khachaturian, President of the Governing Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, said the forthcoming actions will be focused on countering Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian propaganda in the West. Besides, he, said, the efforts will continue towards the realization of Artsakh’s right to self-determination and its recognition by foreign countries. Hakob Ter-Khachaturian considers that there has been some positive progress in that direction.

“A number of US States have already recognized Artsakh. We hope the eighth state will join them soon. Although it’s on the regional level, the process has started. In Uruguay it was recognized by law, and was followed by a statement of the Foreign Minister,” he reminded.

Hakob Ter-Khachaturian stressed the importance of uniting the Diaspora potential to support the Armenian Army.

Vera Yacoubian, the Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee in the Middle East, the issue of support to Syrian Armenians is also on the agenda. There are concerns connected with the migration of Syrian Armenians to the West, particularly Canada, and also Australia.

She said representatives of the Hai Thad Committees coordinated the strategies with the Foreign Ministries of Armenia and Artsakh. She said that “the full utilization of the potential of Armenians against the Azerbaijani oil dollars and military policy will produce results.”

 

Two pieces of aircraft debris found on beaches in Mauritius and South Africa almost certainly came from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, say Malaysian and Australian officials, the BBC reports.

It is the latest development in efforts to solve the mystery of the aircraft, which went missing in March 2014.

The plane, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, had 239 people on board when it vanished.

It is presumed to have crashed into the sea after veering off course.

Three ships are searching a 120,000 sq km area of the southern Indian Ocean but have so far found no trace of the plane.

Five pieces of debris have been confirmed as definitely or probably from the plane.

Each was found thousands of miles from the search zone, though within the area models of ocean currents have indicated debris could wash up.

Photo: AP

 

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff is to face trial after the Senate voted to impeach and suspend her, the BBC reports.

Ms Rousseff is accused of illegally manipulating finances to hide a growing public deficit ahead of her re-election in 2014, which she denies.

Senators voted to suspend her by 55 votes to 22 after an all-night session that lasted more than 20 hours.

Vice-President Michel Temer will now assume the presidency while Ms Rousseff’s trial takes place.

The trial may last up to 180 days, which would mean Ms Rousseff would be suspended during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, which start on 5 August.

Ms Rousseff made a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court to stop proceedings, but the move was rejected. Her suspension brings an end to 13 years of the rule of her Workers’ Party.