Category: News

Photo: Reuters

 

Ukraine is holding commemorations to mark the 30th anniversary of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, the BBC reports.

Sirens were sounded at the same moment as the first explosion at the reactor, in the early hours of 26 April 1986.

The meltdown at the plant remains the worst nuclear disaster in history.

An uncontrolled reaction blew the roof off, spewing out a cloud of radioactive material which drifted across Ukraine’s borders, into Russia, Belarus and across a swathe of northern Europe.

The relatives of those who died attended candle-lit vigils at several churches, including in the capital Kiev and in Slavutych, a town built to re-house workers who lived near the nuclear plant.

The EU’s top diplomat Federica Mogherini said Tuesday that Turkey would only get visa-free travel to the bloc once it has met all the required criteria, AFP reports.

Turkey has demanded its citizens be allowed to enter the European Union’s passport free Schengen zone without a visa by June, in exchange for it taking back migrants from Europe.

But the EU insists that Turkey must meet 72 conditions before allowing visa-free travel, of which it is believed to have fulfilled about half.

“On free travel, this will be done only once all the criteria are respected, as for all countries with which we negotiate free travel for a limited period,” EU foreign policy chief Mogherini said on France Inter radio.

“It was the case with Georgia, it was the case with Ukraine, it is a discussion we are having with Kosovo. There are very strict, technical criteria that must be put in place, a very severe verification must be carried out to apply this measure.”

The EU struck the deal with Turkey to send back all “irregular” migrants which arrive in Greece after March 20 in a bid to halt mass migration which has created enormous strain in Europe.

 

Mogherini said resuming talks on Turkey’s accession was “the only way we can help Turkey modernise its state (and) respect fundamental rights including press freedom … and also hold a larger conversation for example on relaunching peace talks with the Kurds.”

 

If Ankara meets its side of the agreement, the European Commission has promised to recommend next month that EU states approve visa-free travel for Turks.

On Monday night, members of the University of Chicago’s Armenian Circle and supporters staged a protest at an International House (I-House) lecture by a scholar denies the Armenian Genocide, reports.

University of Louisville professor Justin McCarthy spoke at the I-House Assembly Hall about his most recent book, Turks and Armenians: Nationalism and Conflict in the Ottoman Empire. McCarthy has been accused of Armenian Genocide denialism by organizations including the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). McCarthy argues that the events others call genocide were part of a civil war between the Ottoman Empire and Armenian rebels during World War I.

Before the event, members of the Armenian Circle standing outside I-House passed out flyers condemning the event. One part of the flyer noted that the event, which was sponsored by the Turkish American Cultural Alliance (TACA) and the Turkish Consulate General in Chicago, was scheduled for the day after Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day (April 24).

During the first minutes of McCarthy’s speech, protesters filling the second and third rows, including members of the Armenian Circle, Students for Justice in Palestine, and the Hellenic Students Association, placed red tape over their mouths before standing and turning to face the audience, prompting some applause. McCarthy and various members of the audience began asking the protesters to sit down on the grounds that they were blocking the audience’s view of the stage, though other audience members shouted out that they could still see and hear the presentation.

After the protesters refused to sit, I-House staff intervened, at which point the protesters walked out of the Assembly Hall, joined by other attendees, to further applause.

Armenia did  not apply to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) for help during the escalation of the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh, CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha told reporters today, RIA Novosti reports.

Bordyuzha added that he understood from contacts with the Armenian leadership that “Armenia had not used its potential to the full,” therefore, no requests followed.

Asked whether the CSTO would come to help only in case of assault against the internationally recognized borders of Armenia, the CSTO Secretary General gave a positive answer.

At the same time he noted that the situation in Nagorno Karabakh is of great importance for ensuring security in the area of CSTO responsibility.

“In case of recurrence of hostilities, we’ll witness an active and direct armed confrontation that will “explode” the whole Caucasus. Many countries will get involved in the conflict, and it will affect many peoples in the Caucasus. It’s very serious and ensuring peace in Karabakh is a must today, otherwise a very large-scale war will burst in the Caucasus. I’d not like to see that,” Boryuzha declared.

Explorers are setting out to create a 1,000-mile hiking route across a little-visited mountain range in Georgia and Armenia, reports.

The team will survey and hike off-road routes over the next six months to design the first long distance walking trail through the Lesser Caucasus mountains.

The team’s leaders, experienced traveller and film-maker Tom Allen and robotics engineer Alessandro Mambelli, will use technology to gather data on the network of off-road car tracks, logging roads and informal trails through important areas.

The Caucasus region is dominated by the Greater and Lesser Caucasus mountain ranges, some of the most impenetrable in the world but known for their rich wildlife, including rarely-seen Eurasian lynx, Caucasian leopards and bears.

Exploring them has been difficult due to the lack of formal trails and maps, which the team hopes to change to help give local people and visitors access to the mountains and raise awareness of the region’s landscapes and cultures.

They are working with the newly-formed Transcaucasian Trail Association and local communities, who will maintain the trails and benefit from them through increased tourism.

The long term vision is to create a way-marked trail network similar to Alpine back-country routes, including sections that would involve camping out and staying in refuges while hiking between villages, backed up by resources such as guidebooks.

Mr Allen, who has close personal ties to Armenia through his wife and has lived there for periods in the last eight years, said he wanted to do something of value to the region.

“There is a real lack of access to the outdoors, there’s no information, the maps are extremely out of date, from the Soviet era.

“People don’t know how to go out and engage with the geography of the country they are living in or go exploring.

“The main objective is to develop a long distance hiking trail which is a kind of flagship for the idea of more trails being developed in the future.”

He added: “This is a very nice rural area within these two countries, there’s a low crime rate, it’s very safe, and people are very hospitable to tourists.”

The team have mapped out plans for covering 1,000 miles (1,500km) of the mountain range, though they are set to walk much further than that as they explore potential routes in detail.

They are backed by a bursary scheme run by the Royal Geographical Society and Jaguar Land Rover, with a Land Rover Defender 110 Station Wagon being specially adapted to carry the team’s GPS equipment and a drone-landing platform.

Mr Mambelli, who lives in Armenia, enjoyed hiking in the Dolomites in his native Italy when younger and took the opportunity to take a break from his engineering career to take part in the expedition.

“I’m looking forward to doing the exploration for some time in the mountains. It’s something I used to do for fun and I’m now doing with a purpose, not just having fun for myself,” he said.

 

 

 

“Following the April developments, the day of recognition of Artsakh by Armenia is not far away,” California Courier editor-in-chief Harut Sassounian told reporters in Yerevan today. He’s a strong believer that Artsakh should be declared an integral part of Armenia.

“Armenia’s earlier position was understandable. Recognition of Artsakh could endanger the negotiation process, but the situation has changed after the April events.

As for the Armenian Genocide recognition, Harut Sassounian said “the US has long recognized it.”

“If Obama refrained from uttering the word ‘genocide’ in his April 24th address, that’s his problem, because he will be remembered in American history as a liar President,” the publisher said.

London-based Mahmud Uzuni, an ethnic Kurd, who served a sentence in Turkey for his pro-Armenian views, also urges Ankara to get rid of historic lies.

He’s visiting Yerevan as representative of the Turkish-German Association “Union Against Genocide,” whose members visit Tsitsernakaberd every April 24 to apologize to Armenians and join the civilized world to call for Armenian Genocide recognition by Turkey.

Uzuni says it’s his obligation to apologize for the crimes committed by Kurds against Armenians.

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement in remembrance of one hundred and one years since the beginning of the Armenian Genocide:

“More than a century ago, starting in 1915 and lasting nearly a decade, more than 1.5 million innocent Armenian children, women, and men were systematically slaughtered during the horrific genocide committed by leaders of the Ottoman Empire.  Today, we remember the victims of this brutal, inhumane period of ethnic cleansing.  We honor their memories by acknowledging the past.

“We must never forget this wretched campaign that destroyed lives, upended communities, and attempted to eradicate an entire culture.  Too often the tragic crimes of history have been ignored, minimized, or denied.  We owe it to future generations to confront the painful past so we can create a more hopeful future.

“On this solemn anniversary, we must embrace the truth.  It is our moral responsibility, every day in every community, to work together to speak out against the bigotry, discrimination and hatred of difference that too often fuel acts of violence.”

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Minister of State for European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France Harlem Désir, President’s Press Office reports.

Welcoming the guest and his delegation, the President of Armenia noted that he recalls with special warmth his meeting with Mr. Désir in October 2015 in the framework of the Ministerial Conference on Francophonie during which they discussed in detail the agenda of the Armenian-French relations, possibilities to develop the Armenia-EU partnership as well as spoke about the NK peace process. The President noted with disappointment that Azerbaijan’s destructive stance and his predictions of the time regarding the possible consequences came true: at the beginning of April, during the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan, servicemen of that country committed numerous crimes, targeting also civilian dwellings and peaceful population. The NK Defense Army not only held out but also gave a worthy counterblow to the enemy. Azerbaijan nevertheless continues its provocations, and the situation remains tense. At the request of the French State Minister, the President of Armenia presented his views regarding the causes and motives of the situation established at the NK line of contact, as well as regarding his views on its possible resolution.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Minister of State for European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France Harlem Désir conveyed to Serzh Sargsyan warm regards and best wishes from the President of France François Hollande and reiterated the position of France, which is also a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, on the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh problem. He said that in his country they believe that there is no military resolution to this conflict, and France is interested in the resumption of negotiations for the benefit of a peaceful resolution of the problem.

The parties concurred that in this situation it is necessary to expeditiously establish mechanisms for the monitoring of the violations of the ceasefire regime and introduction of the confidence building measures to prevent aggressive interventions and to create a possibility for reaching at the table of negotiations mutually acceptable solutions.

According to Harlem Désir, presence in his delegation of the French Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Pierre Andrieu proves once again that France spares no effort to find a speedy and peaceful solution to the problem.

More than 3,000 activists from across Canada gathered in Ottawa on April 24, to commemorate the 101^st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and protest the Turkish government’s ongoing denial of the crime, the reports.

The demonstrators gathered at the steps of Parliament Hill to thank the Canadian government for recognizing the Armenian Genocide, and to call on it to exert pressure on its NATO ally, Turkey, to come to terms with its past and put an end to its ongoing policy of genocide denial.

Demonstrators then marched via Rideau St. to the Turkish Embassy to protest against Turkey’s ongoing denial policies and human rights violations, and to demand justice and reparations for the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) of Canada stressed the need for recognition and reparations in their annual speech. “We are here to tell this embassy that we will never accept an apology from the Turkish Government, which offers no recognition, accepts no responsibility, expresses no regret, and suggests no reparations for the crimes committed”, read the statement.

AYF Canada members read information about the lost churches and cultural centers, as well as the traditions of the confiscated provinces of Western Armenia, making clear the Armenian losses are tangible and reinforcing the importance of reparations in any resolution for their cause.

Protest organizers also highlighted the various human rights abuses committed by the Turkish government today. “President Erdogan’s infamous regime not only shamelessly continues to deny the Armenian Genocide, but actively suppresses freedom of speech and continues its notorious mistreatment and marginalization of minorities in Turkey, with minimal regard to human rights and democracy,” read a part of the statement.

Addressing the participants of the rally, Armenia’s Ambassador to Canada Armen Yeganian said: “On behalf of all Armenians, I am grateful to the Government of Canada. Both the Senate and the House of Commons have adopted resolutions referring to the Armenian Genocide. All Canadian Prime Ministers since 2006 issue a proper proclamation on that day. We are grateful to the global civil society and international press representatives that have been voicing the importance of the Armenian Genocide recognition. We are grateful to all people of good will — all those who stood by the side of the Armenian people in the course of commemoration events around the world this year.”

 

Photo: Daro Salukauri/Bloomberg

 

War can break out “at any moment” in Nagorno-Karabakh and there’s little prospect of talks to resolve the conflict, the President of Armenia said.

A Russian-brokered truce may not be enough to prevent fighting “on an even larger scale” after four days of war between Azeris and Armenians this month that involved “several hundred tanks” and 30,000 artillery rounds, Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with at the presidential residence in Yerevan.

It’s “unreasonable” for Armenia to resume peace talks with Azerbaijan without security guarantees because “the situation is entirely different now,” he said.

“On the one hand we’d be talking somewhere while, on the other, military officials would be engaging in war here to try to settle the conflict,” he said.

Speaking about Russian Foreign Minister’s visit to Armenia, President Sargsyan said “Lavrov didn’t “bring any new proposals” because “he realizes very well that it doesn’t make sense to talk about negotiations immediately after a four-day war.”

Battles raged along the full 200-kilometer length of the front line as Azerbaijan tried to punch through to Nagorno-Karabakh itself and then “issue an ultimatum” to Karabakh, he said.

Sargsyan said Azeri troops took “very small pieces” of land in the north and south of the contact line that “had no strategic importance” for Armenian forces, who didn’t try to reclaim them “to avoid additional losses” of life, he said.

While the chief of the defense staff in Moscow mediated the cease-fire talks, there’s no place for Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone to separate the two sides, Sargsyan said. Talk of deploying Russian forces “wasn’t entirely without grounds” in previous peace negotiations, though “I don’t see any such opportunity” now, he said.

“If there are no negotiations, how can Russian forces appear in Karabakh or between Azeri and Karabakh forces?” Sargsyan said. Russia’s pursuing a “balanced policy” between Armenia and Azerbaijan while seeking to avert “large-scale military conflict,” he said.

Sargsyan said Russian, U.S. and French mediators from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe must put in place “confidence-building measures” before any new peace talks, and particularly “an investigation mechanism for violations of the cease-fire that would pinpoint exactly which party” was responsible. Armenia also requires “assurances that these kinds of violations will not happen again,” he said.