Category: News

On 15 February Permanent Representative of the Republic of Armenia to the United Nations, Ambassador Zohrab Mnatsakanyan delivered a statement during the Security Council Open Debate on “Respect for the Principles and Purposes of the Charter of the United Nations as a key element for the maintenance of international peace and security.”

In his statement, Ambassador Mnatsakanyan expressed appreciation to the Secretary General for his continued contribution to a comprehensive and consolidated approach to the trinity of peace, development and human rights. He noted that the history of humanity has indeed been marked by conflicts, conquests and wars; yet, the same history is overwhelmed with continued struggle of oppressed people for their freedom, self-determination and independence. Ambassador Mnatsakanyan furthermore reminded that the Charter is based on the reaffirmation of the faith in basic human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person, and it is exactly due to these fundamental principles of the Charter that 193 free nations are gathered under the roof of the United Nations.

The Ambassador of Armenia referred to fundamental difficulties that often arise when the voice of the affected people is drowned in the justification and abuse of the principles of sovereignty, non-interference and territorial integrity, leading to political culture of repression, systematic violation of human rights and disregard of the rule of law. The people of Nagorno-Karabakh have effectively won their right to self-determination and freedom, yet, the continued cultivation of hatred and aggression, the entrenched culture of systematic violations of human rights in Azerbaijan, their continued war-mongering and effective refusal to achieve a swift and negotiated peace agreement, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs, represent an actual physical threat to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, Ambassador Mnatsakanyan explained. He furthermore stressed that consolidated support of the international community to the negotiating process within the agreed format is of uttermost importance, “not least in order to deny the unwilling party the privilege of procrastination, deviation from agreed principles of the settlement and forum shopping.”

Referring to the principles of sovereignty, the Ambassador of Armenia noted that sovereignty entails responsibility, whereas irresponsible sovereignty represents a threat to international peace and security. Building peaceful and inclusive societies is, therefore, as much about responsibility of government, as it is about sovereignty. In this regard, Ambassador Mnatsakanyan emphasized that enhanced international co-operation to this end is, therefore, compelling, not least when viewed strictly through the prism of maintenance of international peace. “The function of prevention and elaboration of early warning mechanisms and capacity to channel early signs of deteriorating situations into the UN system remains a vital objective,” – suggested Ambassador Mnatsakanyan, recalling the Framework Analyses for Atrocity Crimes as an important tool in this regard.

The Open Debate was presided by H.E. Delcy Rodríguez, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela. Representatives of about seventy state members, including Deputy Foreign Ministers of Angola, Spain, Guyana, Argentina and El Salvador, as well as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and a number of senior UN officials participated in the Open Debate.

A delegation headed by Iran’s Deputy Minister of Health Rasoul Dinarvand has arrived in Armenia with a view of deepening the cooperation between the two countries in the field of healthcare. The delegation comprising outstanding specialists of the sphere and representatives of the private sector had a meeting with Armenian Health Minister Armen Muradyan.

Rasoul Dinarvand said his country is interested in developing the cooperation with Armenia in the field of healthcare. “We want to make use of all opportunities for more effective cooperation,” he said.

Iran’s Deputy Health Minister said the Iranian private sector is interested in making investments in our country, namely establishing a medical center.

The parties pointed to pharmaceutics as a promising sphere of cooperation. The development of advanced technologies and methods of drug production was discussed. Reference was made to the promotion of exports and imports, as well as exchange of experience.

On February 15, the first round of the EU-Armenia negotiations on trade and investment issues was launched within the process of forming a new legal basis for relations between the Republic of Armenia and European Union, the Armenin Ministry of Economy informs.
The negotiations were attended by the Armenian delegation headed by the First Deputy Minister of Economy of RA Garegin Melkonyan. The delegation comprises representatives of Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Central Bank, as well as other organizations.

The European delegation was led by Petros Sourmelis, head of unit, Russia, CIS, Ukraine, Western Balkan, EFTA, EEA, Turkey and Central Asia, the European Commission Directorate-General for Trade (DG TRADE).

The negotiations are held around the fields and directions previously clarified with the European side, in particular trade of goods and services, trade protection measures, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property rights, competition, public procurement, sustainable development, transparency, current payments and movement of capital, investment cooperation and protection, dispute settlements, etc.

Generally, the first round of negotiations is quite comprehensive and extensive. Besides the plenary session of negotiations, more than 12 meetings of the negotiating subgroups are being scheduled. During those meetings the draft texts of the corresponding directions will be discussed.

Further negotiating processes, rounds, timetable/ schedule, as well as some sectoral issues of future cooperation will also be discussed.

“The victims of genocide or crimes against humanity are as aggrieved as the ones who died in a war, car crash or natural disaster. Denying this fact is to perpetuate the crime,” historian Yves Ternon said in an interview with . Working especially on Rwanda, Jewish and Armenian genocides, Ternon worked as a physician for year and then devoted himself to historical research.

Asked whether it’s proper to make a comparison between Holocaust and Armenian genocide, he said: “Of course we can and in fact, we should. All genocide studies complement each other. Though there are some differences between these two genocides, there are also a lot of similarities. First of all, both of them were based on an ideology. Holocaust was grounded on racist ideology, which is based on anti-Semitism, or colloquially, on “hate of Jews”. A similar ideology was prevalent among the Young Turks: Turkism, meaning Turkish nationalism and panturkism. At the end, these ideologies went so far that the idea of getting rid of everyone who is not Turk prevailed. I mean, getting rid of Christians, for instance, Armenians.”

“On the other hand, there is an important difference between two genocides. One of them was a pure racist ideology; this is what happened in Holocaust. Comparing the Armenians in Ottoman Empire and Jews in Germany, Jews hadn’t been constituting a problem; I mean, there wasn’t any religious-ethnic problems or territorial issues. However, Armenians had an autonomy problem in Anatolia and they had always been subjected to discrimination, because they are Christians. In this sense, Armenians constituted a “threat” in Anatolia. They had to eliminate it, but how? By annihilating the Armenians. The frameworks of these two genocides is different, but both of them were based on an ideology and resulted in a genocide,” he said.

Soeaking about the denial of the Armenain Genocide, the historian said “it is more than denial, it is an ignoring policy.” “Today, Turkey doesn’t only deny the annihilation of Armenians, but also ignores their existence. As Taner Akçam said, Turkish identity is based on the non-existence of Armenians. If Turkey accepts the genocide, it would also accept their existence. This means that Turkish identity would be harmed in part. This is of course really hard. Thus, I think that the denial will go on for years. Turkey also denies the existence of Kurds. Turkish identity doesn’t accept Kurds with their Kurdish identity; they want to see them as Turkish, which is not true. We have to acknowledge that Turkish identity is problematical and it constitutes the foundations of Turkish Republic. Unsettling these foundations is not easy; it requires efforts that will last for years. Thankfully, there are a lot of scientists who work on this issue and some of them in Turkey, which is a good thing.”

Referring to the perspectives of social transformation in Turkey, Yves Ternon said: “Turkey is still being governed by the Young Turks mentality. Unionist policies remain. I mean, there is change, but it is not enough. In short, there are 3 reasons why I think that the denial of Armenian Genocide will continue. First reason is the impossibility of reconstitution of Turkish identity. Second one is the problem of compensation and the third one is the impossibility of a transformation in Kemalist or İslamist political ideology. Thus, if there is no democracy in Turkey and a radical change, a social transformation is difficult. On the other hand, there are political parties like HDP which are ready to accept the Armenian Genocide. There are minority, but they are there. There might be a change, if the number of such parties increase.”

Hagop Yakup Demirci, an 85-year-old Armenian man living in Istanbul’s Sisili district with his wife, Seta Ayda Demirci, 79, was found dead after three burglars left the old Armenian couple tied inside their apartment on February 6. The burglars stole 100,000 Turkish Liras.

“When the information on the attack on an Armenian family spread in Istanbul, it caused fear among Armenians that the crime could have been committed by Armenians. Now it’s an undeniable fact that the couple has been attacked by citizens of the Republic of Armenia,” regional studies expert Sargis Hatspanyan told a press conference today. According to him, the Turkish Police have disseminated information, claiming that the group committed other crimes in Turkey.

“This murder that could seem a regular crime to many, contains a lot of problems,” Hatspanyan said. “Turkey, in the face of its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can use this private story against us. Besides, the attack has seriously damaged the reputation of the Armenian community of Istanbul,” the expert said.

Everything was arranged by an Armenian housekeeper. “Today Armenians of Istanbul fear for their lives. They are not sure whether they can trust Armenian housekeepers,” Hatspanyan said.

Seta Ayda Demirci heard the criminals speak Armenian, but didn’t tell the Police. The woman tried to keep the fact secret. The movement of the criminals was fixed by street cameras, whiched helped solve the crime easily.

The European Union has lifted most sanctions against Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko and his administration officials, the EU Council said in a statement Monday, praising Belarus’s role at a time when Russia has been pushing to reestablish control over former Soviet republics, The Moscoe Times reports.

Relations between Belarus’s authoritarian president and the West have improved markedly since the start of Russia’s meddling in Ukraine a couple of years ago. Lukashenko criticized Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and the Russian-backed separatist insurgency in Ukraine’s east, and hosted peace talks in his capital Minsk between representatives of the Kiev government, rebel leaders, Russia, Germany and France.

The EU Council “acknowledges the steps taken by Belarus over the last two years that have contributed to improving EU-Belarus relations,” and “values Belarus’ constructive role in the region,” it said in a statement.

The EU suspended sanctions against Lukashenko and 169 other Belarussian individuals last year, and lifted them altogether on Monday. The sanctions, which included asset freezes and visa bans, had been in place for over a decade.

The release of all political prisoners by late August last year, and improvements during the October presidential balloting after a series of flawed elections in the past contributed to the EU decision, the statement said.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has asked the Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, to resign, saying he has lost the support of the ruling coalition, the BBC reports.

But Poroshenko said there would not be a snap election.

Mr Yatsenyuk’s government has been criticised over the slow pace of reform and faces allegations of corruption.

Western governments have expressed concern over the resignation of reform-minded figures from the government.

“The cabinet has lost the coalition’s trust,” the president said in a statement.

“To restore this trust, therapy is not enough. One should resort to surgical means,” he added, saying it was “obvious” that there is demand for a “complete reset of the cabinet”.

The president said a new cabinet could be formed by the existing parliamentary coalition.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk is due to address parliament, where he faces the threat of a vote of no confidence.

Mr Poroshenko’s party will vote to criticise Mr Yatsenyuk’s performance as “unsatisfactory”, its leader Yuriy Lutsenko told parliament.

The Azerbaijani side used artillery weapons of different caliber, also as HAN-17 grenade launchers as it fired more than 800 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions last night, the NKR Ministry of Defense reports.

The Ministry said the Defense Army keeps full control of the situation at the line of contact and confidently continues with the protection of the military positions.

On February 15 Armen Yeganian, the Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Canada, met Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada.

The sides outlined with satisfaction the intensification of political dialogue between the two countries. Ambassador Yeganian stated that during 2015 Yervand Zakharyan, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, and Hranush Hakobyan, Minister of Diaspora, visited Canada; the official visit of Galust Sahakyan, Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, took place in May of 2015. At the same time, the Ambassador welcomed the visits of two Canadian official delegations to Armenia during last year, headed by Minister Chris Alexander and Minister Christian Paradis.

The progress achieved in bilateral trade and economic relations during the recent years was emphasized, and the visit of the first Canadian trade mission to Armenia in 2015 is the proof of that progress. The Ambassador mentioned that Canadian companies are interested in the different brunches of Armenian industry, especially in the mining sector.

Upon the request of Minister Dion, Ambassador Yeganian briefed on the commemoration events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, held in different countries, including Canada.

The sides also discussed the results of the 31st Ministerial Conference of the International Organization of La Francophonie, which took place last October in Yerevan.

They agreed to continue efforts towards the further enhancement of bilateral political dialogue and deepening of trade and economic ties.

During the meeting regional issues were discussed as well.