Category: News

Borussia Dortmund star Henrikh Mkhitaryan admits he almost joined Serie A before and is open to Juventus. “We’ll see this summe,” reports.

The Armenian creative midfielder has already been a Bianconeri transfer target for over a year and this summer could be the right time.

“In a splendid season for Borussia I want to give my best for this club. I am happy here, but in the career of a football player everything can change so quickly,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“Juve? In this life anything is possible, you never know. This is why I do not say anything on Juve or other teams. We’ll see what happens in the summer,” he smiled.

“I have no preference between Liga, Premier League and Serie A. They are all top tournaments. The important thing is to choose a club where you can give your best.”

Last summer Mkhitaryan had been suggested as the ideal replacement for Andrea Pirlo at Juventus.

“Pirlo was unique, a God of football. Other than his technique, I am amazed by his ability to start moves from the back.

“At Borussia I have the freedom to move from right to left so I can play between the lines. That way we all score lots of goals and I have a lot of fun setting my teammates up.

“Would I be able to do that at Juventus? But they have such super strikers as Paulo Dybala, Alvaro Morata and Mario Mandzukic. There’d be no room for me.”

What if Morata left and Dybala moved into a more advanced role?

“I don’t know. Maybe…”

Mkhitaryan speaks “five and a half languages: Armenian, English, French, Russian, Portuguese and German. Will the next be Italian? Maybe.

“I was on the verge of joining Chievo at the age of 19, but I was advised otherwise. Evidently it was fate. At Shakhtar Donetsk I helped Mircea Lucescu speak to the Brazilian players, seeing as I learned Portuguese during a trial at Sao Paulo when I was 13. I also started to learn some Italian thanks to Lucescu.

“At Borussia Dortmund under Jurgen Klopp out football was non-stop pressing and counter-attack. Instead, Tuchel changed my life. Now we dictate the play and I have more freedom to attack. Thanks to him I am now able to make myself more useful.

“I consider myself a complete midfielder now, but realise every day I must work hard to be quicker, more concentrated and always aim to improve my technique.”

Mkhitaryan is extremely intelligent and is about to complete his degree in economic studies, so won’t be easily led on his future.

“From the moment I met Mino Raiola, we agreed on one very important fact: I will accept his advice, but I have my own mind and no decision will be imposed on me.”

An explosion at a major tourist shopping area in the Turkish city of Istanbul has injured a number of people, Turkish media say.

According to the Hurriyet Daily News, two people were killed and seven others were injured, on the busy İstiklal Avenue in Taksim.

The attack happened on Balo Street near the Demirören Mall and one of the killed was the attacker.

The pedestrian street was completely sealed off and police officers and ambulances were deployed to the area.

Photo: AFP/Russia Emergency Ministry

 

A passenger jet has crashed in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing all 55 passengers and seven crew on board, officials say.

The FlyDubai Boeing 737-800, coming from Dubai, missed the runway as it attempted to land at 03:50 local time (00:50 GMT) on Saturday.

It is not clear what caused the crash but poor visibility and high winds are being considered as a factor.

CCTV footage showed an explosion and a huge flash after the plane crashed.

“The aircraft hit the ground and broke into pieces,” the Investigative Committee of Russia said on its website.

Reports say the plane abandoned its initial attempt to land and circled for two hours before crashing at the second attempt.

Photo: AP

 

European Union leaders and Turkey have finalised a deal to try to halt the mass movement of migrants into Europe, the BBC reports.

European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted there was “unanimous” agreement between Turkey and the 28 EU leaders.

Under the scheme, from midnight Sunday migrants arriving in Greece will be sent back to Turkey if their asylum claim is rejected, EU sources said.

In return, EU countries will resettle thousands of Syrian migrants living in Turkey.

For Turkey, the deal will also bring financial aid and faster EU membership talks.

The Ankara-based bilingual Kurdish- magazine “Rosa” has been banned for its reference to the Armenian Genocide, Akunq.net reports, quoting the Kurdish Rudaw.net website.

The “Rosa” literary magazine is published in Kurdish and Turkish. Its editor-in-chief Mehmet Salih Ersari said the Gaziantep Penal Court of Peace ruled to ban the publishing of the magazine on grounds of “propagandizing a terrorist group.”

Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian met with Foreign Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Karen Mirzoyan today.

During the meeting, Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Artsakh thoroughly discussed issues on the process of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Edward Nalbandian and Karen Mirzoyan touched upon the cooperation between the MFAs of Armenia and Artsakh, issues of training of the diplomats.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry reacted angrily to the statements made by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan during the latter’s official visit to Athens on Tuesday, saying they are “obsessive and one-sided.”

during the Armenian official’s visit, Tsipras spoke of the Armenian and Pontic-Greek genocide, which form part of the two countries’ common past.

“The statements in question are the products of a pathetic mentality proving that the relations and solidarity between Greece and Armenia is built upon a joint hostility and slander language directed against the Turkish identity,” the spokesperson of the Turkish ministry, Tanju Bilgiç said in a statement.

“Turkey and the Turkish people will never give credit to those bringing to the fore at every opportunity a dictum of history which is unlawful, disconnected with realities, one-sided and obsessive,” it added.

The ministry also said the three officials referred to “historical events during the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire” which contained “grave allegations against Turkey and the Turkish identity.”

 

 

 

The 30-minute program of the Yazidi service of Public Radio of Armenia has always played an important role in helping the Yazidi people preserve their national identity, religion and traditions, but it’s high time to improve the program. The leadership of Public Radio of Armenia intends to update the Yazidi service. Executive Director Arman Saghatelyan met with representatives of the Yazidi community of Armenia today to listen to their opinions and proposals.

A country with a world-spread Diaspora could not stay indifferent towards its own ethnic minorities. With this in mind, the Public Radio of Armenia has given voice to the Yazidi community by airing a 30-minute program every day for 26 years now.

“We’ll try to fill the gaps, by providing listeners with information related to Yazidis of the world, launching discussions on issues of concern featuring Armenian and international experts,” said Gayane Gasparyan, head of the Overseas Service of the Public Radio of Armenia. According to her, the “program will refer to the Yazidi communities all over the world and reflect the problems they face in different countries of the world.

The Azerbaijani side fired more than 600 shots from weapons of different caliber in the direction of Armenian positions last night.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army resorted to targeted retaliatory measures to silence the activeness of the rival.

The NKR Ministry of Defense reports that private of the Defense Army Hovhannes Harutyunyan, born in 1997, was fatally wounded because of violating the rules of use of weapons in one of the military units located in the southern direction of the Defense Army.

Investigation into the details of the incident is under way.

The NKR Defense Army said in a statement it shares the sorrow of the heavy loss and expresses condolences to the families and friends of the soldier.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been handed a return to Borussia Dortmund, with the Reds facing the German side in the Europa League quarter-finals, the BBC reports.

Klopp, 48, left Dortmund last summer after leading them to two Bundesliga titles and a Champions League final.

Sevilla, trying to win the competition for the third successive season, face Athletic Bilbao in an all-Spanish tie.

La Liga rivals Villarreal meet Czech side Sparta Prague, while Portugal’s Braga face Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine.

The quarter-finals will be played on 7 and 14 April.

Liverpool will travel to Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion in the first leg.