Author: Alex Nanijanian

has included young Armenian footballer Vahan Bichakhchyan in the list of 60 of the best young talents in world football.

“Considered by some to be as talented as his countryman Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Bichakhchyan was handed his senior debut at the age of 16 for Shirak. He came on as a substitute in the Europa League first qualifying round second leg against Georgia’s Dila Gori and scored a screamer to help the team progress to the next stage. The goal made him the youngest Armenian to score in Europe,” The Guardian writes.

“Used mainly as right winger, his style is similar to Kevin De Bruyne’s: he has a good eye for goal and is always ready to take on opponents one-on-one, also reminding observers of a young Wayne Rooney. Bichakhchyan had, by mid-September, scored two goals and provided one assist in eight matches in this debut season for Shirak and had precisely the same stats for Armenia Under-19s after being considered too good for the Under-17s,” the paper writes.

A preliminary by the Council of Europe’s constitutional law experts (the Venice Commission) criticizes draft modifications to the constitution of Azerbaijan, which will be put to a national referendum on Monday 26 September.

Many proposed amendments would severely upset the balance of power by giving “unprecedented” powers to the President, according to the Venice Commission opinion.

For example, the extension of the presidential mandate from five to seven years “cannot be justified” given the already very strong position of the President, who since 2009 can be re-elected without term limits.

Another reform gives the President power to dissolve parliament, which does not only make political dissent in parliament “largely ineffective”, according to the opinion, but also affects the independence of the judiciary, since parliament’s role in the approval of judges will be reduced.

The Venice Commission experts were “particularly worried” by the introduction of the figure of unelected Vice-Presidents, who may at some moment govern the country, and the President’s prerogative to declare early presidential elections at his convenience.

The opinion also criticizes the procedure of the referendum as having lacked proper debate in parliament and having been carried out too quickly and without real public discussion beforehand.

Indeed, due to time constraints, the opinion rapporteurs themselves were unable to visit Azerbaijan and did not benefit from direct consultations with the authorities, experts and other stakeholders. In this context, the Venice Commission regrets that the authorities of Azerbaijan did not consult it prior to submitting the draft to the referendum.

The experts praised proposed amendments in the human rights chapter of the Azeri constitution, such as the introduction of the concept of “human dignity” and of the right to “conscientious treatment excluding arbitrariness” by state bodies and of certain procedural rights. They also praised the proposal to elevate the “principle of proportionality” to the constitutional level, which means that every restriction to human rights should be proportionate to the aim the state seeks to achieve.

However, the experts expressed reservations with other proposed changes in the human rights chapter, in particular one which provides for limitations to public gatherings for the sake of “public order” and “morality”, since this provision risks to be too broadly interpreted. The opinion also is concerned about a proposed provision on withdrawing citizenship that “reduces the scope of the current guarantee” that prevents withdrawal of citizenship in absolute terms.

Armenia’s Acting Foreign Minister Edwrad Nalbandian will visit Bishkek September 15-16 to participate in the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the CIS member states, Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

Policeman has been reported killed in Yerevan.

Serviceman of the Police  Troops Yura Tepanosyan (born in 1986) was  killed by a sniper inside the seized police station, Head of the Department of Public Relations and Information of the RA Police Ashot Aharonyan said in a Facebook post.

The sniper opened fire from inside the premises of the Patrol Guard Service, Aharonyan said.

The policeman was sitting in a car parked 350-400 meters away from the premises of the Patrol Guard Service.

“The security of Nagorno Karabakh can be guaranteed only outside Azerbaijan,” Armenian President Serzh Sarsgyan said in an interview with Al Mayadeen TV, a pan-Arab news station.

“It’s up to the people of Nagorno Karabakh to determine their final status just like it happens all over the world. Had self-determination not been respected, the UN would consist of 60-70 states today. The same Armenia and Azerbaijan would not be independent countries,” President Sargsyan said.

“Nagorno Karabakh has never been part of Azerbaijan,” President Sargsyan said. He reminded that Karabakh was annexed to Azerbaijan at the decision of the Caucasus Bureau of the Communist Party.

“The same happened to Nakhijevan, which has been completely cleansed of Armenians, where the Armenian historical-cultural monuments have been razed to ground, and no one, including UNESCO, has able to prevent the crime,” the President said.

He stressed that it’s impossible to convince the people of Nagorno Karabakh to live under Azerbaijani jurisdiction.

The NATO summit is an opportunity to continue discussions on Nagorno Karabakh, US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick said in a Twitter post.

“Just arrived in Warsaw for the NATO summit. It’s an opportunity to continue discussions on Nagorno Karabakh peace process with Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Warlick said.

The summit will be held in Poland July 8-9.

The City Hall of the Turkish city of Tuzluca (historic Koghb) in Igdir Province has demounted the Armenian signboards at the entry and exit of the city, Anadolu Agency reports.

The signboards reading “Welcome” and “Good bye” in four languages, including Armenian, were posted in Tuzluca in September 2015.

The Armenian inscription angered the local activists at the time.

Photo: TASS

 

Russia plans to maintain strategic partnership with Armenia, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Wednesday at a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Seyran Ohanyan, TASS reports.

“We would like to maintain our strategic partnership further,” Shoigu said.

The Russian minister said that the bilateral military and military-technical cooperation is regulated and supported by more than 50 treaties and agreements.

“The tempo and intensity of our cooperation satisfy us. We cooperate in all spheres, I’d like to separately note the education sphere,” the defense minister said.

He recalled that many Armenian military are trained in Russian military academies, and this year Armenia filed an application for the training of more than 200 officers. “We are ready to support it”, Shoigu added.

Ohanyan said for his part that he was glad to have the opportunity to meet his Russian colleague and “compare notes” on certain issues of defense cooperation with Russia. “I think our regular bilateral meetings and joint events have become a tradition and demonstrate once again that our relations are at a very high level, and our cooperation in the defense sector is developing dynamically”, the Armenian defense minister said, adding that Russia’s assistance to Yerevan is a proof off such cooperation.

France has deported a group of 29 Russian supporters who were involved in the shocking attacks on England fans at Euro 2016 – and intercepted another 50 heading to Lille, the reports.

French police have launched an anti-hooligan operation in Mandelieu, near Cannes, after verifying 29 Russian supporters suspected of being involved in the fighting in Marseille.

‘These verifications have been carried out on the basis of intelligence… leading us to think they were present in Marseille,’ said Xavier Lauch, cabinet director of the prefect of the Alpes Maritimes department.

In a separate incident, Alexander Shprygin, the head of a Russian supporters’ group, said French riot police had stopped a bus in Cannes carrying Russian fans on their way to Lille.

He said: ‘They want to deport almost 50 people including women who did not take part in anything.

‘The police are making up for their mistakes three days ago. We are in a bus in Cannes and we have been blocked in by riot police with machine guns and it was pushed towards some closed area. We are not going anywhere for the time being and are waiting for the consul.’

Later on, he said: ‘Police are now dragging us out of the bus, they’ve announced deportation. No reasons are being given. There are 50 people in the bus.

President Serzh Sargsyan has offered condolences to US President Barack Obama over the horrific terrorist act in an Orlando club that left at least 50 killed and dozens injured, the President’s Press Office reported.

President Sargsyan strongly criticized this nasty expression of intolerance and underlined that “this tragedy that befell the friendly American people proved once again that all expressions of hatred, fighting which is a collective duty and mission of all, still remains a most serious challenge to mankind even in the 21^st century.”