Author: Alex Jidarian

On a working visit to the Russian Federation, Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan had a meeting with Russia’s Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov.

The parties discussed issues related to the bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the fieldof military industry.

During the meeting reference was made to the process of implementation of the agreements reached during Denis Manturov’s recent visit to Armenia.

President Serzh Sargsyan sent a congratulatory message to Giorgi Kvirikashvili on his re-appointment as Prime Minister of Georgia.

The President of Armenia expressed hope that the readiness of the two friendly countries to strengthen the existing potential of cooperation and partnership will allow to continuously develop the brotherly relations of the Armenian and Georgian peoples and will give a new impetus to the mutually beneficial cooperation.

President Serzh Sargsyan received today Italy’s Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

The President noted that the Armenian-Italian relations, which date back to the depth of centuries, are full of a number of friendly expressions that have served a basis for the consistent development of interstate ties ever since Armenia gained independence in 1991.

Serzh Sargsyan voiced hope that Minister Gentiloni’s visit would serve as a new impetus for the political dialogue and contribute to the further deepening of cooperation in different spheres.

The interlocutors referred to issues of enhancing the bilateral economic ties.

The Armenian President and the Italian Foreign Minister exchanged views on regional issues and challenges, including the Karabakh conflict settlement process, the priorities of the Italian Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2018.

Manchester United have announced their 20-man travelling squad for the Europa League clash with Feyenoord, with Wayne Rooney and Henrikh Mkhitaryan the stand-out names to have been left out, Goal.com reports.

Jesse Lingard, who, along with Mkhitaryan, was withdrawn at half-time of the Manchester derby defeat on Saturday is also absent, while Antonio Valencia is another to have not been included.

Jose Mourinho has already confirmed that Marcus Rashford is all set to start the meeting with the Eredivisie side, while the likes of Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Memphis Depay could also get the nod.

Mkhitaryan, who reportedly has become unhappy at life at Old Trafford due to his role in the team, did not take part in training prior to the squad flying to Rotterdam, while Phil Jones was another who didn’t take part.

At least two people were killed when a train derailed near Pontevedra in north-western Spain on Friday, the BBC reports.

About 60 passengers were on the Portuguese train when it derailed at 09:30 (07:30 GMT) near the town’s station, El Pais news website reported.

One carriage came off the tracks completely, the other two partially.

Emergency workers are at the scene. The crash was at O Porrino, on the coast, just south of Santiago de Compostela and north of Portugal.

In July 2013 Spain suffered one of its worst train crashes in the same region, when a high-speed train derailed near Santiago de Compostela, killing 79 people and injuring some 170. The driver failed to brake in time before a bend.

Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan received today the delegation headed by his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

The Prime Ministers of the two countries hailed the political and economic relations established between the two countries and referred to the perspectives of their development.

The face-to-face meeting was followed by negotiations featuring the delegations of the two countries.

Hovik Abrahamyan and Giorgi Kvirikashvili discussed a wide range of issues related to the Armenian-Georgian cooperation in the fields of trade and economy, energy, transport, tourism, education, etc.

The parties attached importance to the development of energy cooperation both in bilateral and multilateral formats. They welcomed the meetings between Armenian, Georgian, Russian and Iranian energy officials in Yerevan in December 2015 and April 2016, which will allow to initiate and realize programs of regional importance. Reference was made to the construction of the Armenia-Georgia power line.

The parties exchanged views on the development of bilateral cooperation in the fields of tourism and education. They attached importance to the efforts towards reinforcement of stability and security in the region.

Hovik Abrahamyan said the Georgian PM’s visit could serve an additional impetus to the further deepening and development of relations.

Photo: Reuters

Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov is critically ill, the Uzbek government has said in a statement carried by local media, the BBC reports.

He is reported to have been taken to hospital on Saturday after suffering a stroke. His health has sharply deteriorated over the past 24 hours, the government said on Friday.

Opposition news reports have suggested that Mr Karimov, 78, has died.

He has led the former Soviet republic since independence in 1991.

On Sunday, the Uzbek government said Mr Karimov was receiving treatment but did not give details.

The next day, the president’s daughter said he had suffered a brain haemorrhage.

German MPs with Turkish roots have criticized Turkish associations in Germany for providing a platform for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Many are supported by the Turkish government and do not act independently, reports.

The MPs say Erdogan’s influence goes beyond incendiary speeches in Ankara – a number of Turkish organizations in Germany receive Turkish state support, and as such act as the foreign arm of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) was founded in 1984 as a branch of the Presidency of Religious Affairs in Ankara, which funds religious education in Turkey. It pays for Turkish imams to work in Germany. It also claims to represent 70 percent of Germany’s Muslims.

“The Erdogan government’s control of mosque unions in Germany leads to him increasingly misusing these unions as a mouthpiece for his despotic policies,” Left party MP Sevim Dagdelen . “These unions are instrumentalized by Erdogan to establish a very dangerous kind of Islamism that is contrary to basic rights.”

“If mosque unions controlled by Erdogan try to exercise political influence, the critical media will have a tough time being heard,” Dagdelen continued. “This means that millions of people here in Germany are being showered with Erdogan’s inhuman propaganda – and the German government is not paying attention.”

Gökay Sofuoglu, chairman of the Turkish community organization TGD, agrees that many groups are under the influence of the Turkish government, particularly DITIB and the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD), a lobby organization for the AKP. “But there are other organizations, like the TGD, that don’t let themselves be influenced by either Turkish or German politics,” he said.

“I can’t prescribe to DITIB how they should act,” he told DW. “But I can call on the associations to adhere to the basic order and freedom of Germany. Groups that call themselves civil organizations should act in the interests of the population, not the government.” But he admitted that, as a state-supported organization, DITIB couldn’t act independently at all.

He also noted that other organizations like Milli Görüs, which specifically pursues a political Islamist agenda and is considered close to the international Muslim Brotherhood, are already under observation by the German intelligence agencies.

Several MPs, including Özdemir and Germany’s Integration Commissioner Aydan Özoguz, called on associations like DITIB to condemn the threats against them. “You don’t have to like the resolution,” Özdemir told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.” “But Turkish organizations must condemn the death threats. There can’t be two opinions on that.”

Yerevan hosted today the sitting of the National Security Council Secretaries of CSTO member states, chaired by Armen Gevorgyan, Secretary of the Armenian National Security Council.

Considering that the meeting is taking place at a difficult time for Armenia and the region, Armen Gevorgyan first referred to the large-scale military actions unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh this April.

“The people of Nagorno Karabakh faced direct aggression on the part of Azerbaijan. This became a serious challenge to the region, the security and stability in the South Caucasus, and resulted in gross violations of the ceasefire regime,” he noted.

“Armenia, as a guarantor of security of the people of Nagorno Karabakh, cannot just stand and look at such actions of Azerbaijan,” Armen Gevorgyan noted, stressing that “the CSTO was created to solve issues collectively, to curb aggression against member-states.”

The Secretary noted that events were taking place in the Caucasus region of the CSTO and added that the Armenian public expects greater unity from CSTO member states.

“Undoubtedly, any destabilization at the border of a CSTO member state, especially a military clash, is a threat to the security of that country,” CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha told reporters after the sitting, commenting on whether the organization was preparing to take any step to ease the tension after the four-day war.

“Naturally, we do not ignore such situations. This applies to both the Caucasus and Central Asia, Bordyuzha assured.

“The active involvement of the Russian President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in the settlement of the situation is nothing but a stance of a CSTO partner. The CSTO is not only about the Secretariat and the Secretary General, it’s a union of six states and in this period the heads of practically all CSTO member states have tried to influence the situation, to help cease the military actions and return the parties to the negotiating table. In my opinion, this is also a result of CSTO activity. We should look at the CSTO from this perspective, not from the perspective of the use of force or the army,” the Secretary General said.

The parliaments of Russia and Armenia are considering a draft agreement on the creation of a joint air defense system, Nikolai Bordyuzha said.

Russia has already created joint air defense systems with Belarus and Kazakhstan, the CSTO head noted.

“It is being considered at the level of legislative bodies of both countries,” Bordyuzha said at a press conference in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.