Armenpress News Agency , Armenia Friday First session of Armenia-Switzerland chamber of commerce takes place in Zurich YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. The first session of Armenia-Switzerland chamber of commerce took place in Zurich on June 28, “Armenpress” was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia. During the session the chairman of the chamber of commerce, Swiss-Armenian businessman, founder of “Azad” Pharmaceutical Company in Armenia Mike Baronian presented the goals and the directions of the activities of the newly established chamber. In her opening remarks Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary Hasmik Tolmajyan referred to the geographical similarities of Armenia and Switzerland, emphasizing that both states, being landlocked, and poor in natural resources rely on innovative technologies. Hasmik Tolmajyan highlighted the important contribution of the Swiss-Armenian businessmen to the economic development of Armenia and the strengthening of trade and economic cooperation. Lucas Gasser,Ambassadorof SwitzerlandtoArmenia, drawing parallels between the business circles of the two states, underlined the significant potential of bilateral cooperation. Director of the Development FoundationofArmenia AvakAvakian presented Armenia’s economic indexes, development prospects, the business environment, opportunities for investments. Exhibition of Armenian productions was held at the session.
Author: Aram Torosian
Book: Hovhannes Tumanyan’s "Barekendan" translated into Hindi, numerous works await publication
Armenpress News Agency , Armenia Monday Hovhannes Tumanyan's "Barekendan" translated into Hindi, numerous works await publication YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. The translation of Hovhannes Tumanyan’s “Barekendan” into Hindi is yet another occasion to bring the two nations closer. The initiator of the idea, as well as the translator, is Santosh Kumari Arora – an Indian Ambassador for Peace, lecturer at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Yerevan State University. Mrs. Arora talked to ARMENPRESS on this occasion. ARMENPRESS: Mrs. Arora, how did you decide to realize this initiative? Santosh Kumari Arora: My goal is to serve for the two peoples, and see them joyous. I am trying to maximally assist these two nations in bringing them closer to each other. This was one of these steps, I also sometimes hold master classes in Indian cuisine. I do everything what depends on me. If I’ll be able to bring a smile to at least one person, I’ll be happy. ARMENPRESS: Why Tumanyan? Santosh Kumari Arora: I think Tumanyan’s tales have features which shape positive human values. I want these values to be known to everybody. Hovhannes Tumanyan was very religious. I have also translated Tumanyan’s “Akhtamar”, “The master and the slave”, and “Sutlik Vorskan”, which haven’t yet been published. Tumanyan’s works should be translated not only in Hindi, but also other languages. ARMENPRESS: Is there a goal to send the books to India? Santosh Kumari Arora: Definitely, I will personally go to India, visit schools, talk to teachers and directors. They don’t need much explanation. If they read it once, they will understand that Indian schools really need this. In India, they also want to translate their literature into Armenian. The financial issues are the only thing which hinders it. ARMENPRESS: What will this translation give to the Indian children? Santosh Kumari Arora: It will shape a good person. People should read Tumanyan from an early age. I tell my grandchildren many of his tales as well. ARMENPRESS: Where there any linguistic difficulties while translating it? Santosh Kumari Arora: I didn’t have any difficulties while translating because I live within this people, I know the Armenian people very well, I am familiar with their mentality and way of thinking, it’s not only the language that I know, but also what the author meant by writing a given word. In addition, the two languages are very similar. There are many words having the same roots in these languages. ARMENPRESS: Is there a writer in India’s literature who you compare with Tumanyan and his writing style? Santosh Kumari Arora: We have many unique writers in India, for example Premchand, Rabindranáth Tagore. Premchand’s tales are especially close to Tumanyan’s, however I havent noticed Tumanyan’s direct link to God in any other writer. ARMENPRESS: Are you planning to translate other works from Armenian literature? Santosh Kumari Arora: I am planning to tranlsate the Sasna Tsrer (Daredevils of Sassoun) epic soon, I am working on creating a Armenian-Indian dictionary and I want to finish it very soon. I will also try to create a phraseology dictionary and a conversation guide, however I dont have financial support yet. I am also thinking about sending some translated work to India and publish it there. ARMENPRESS: Do the books get sold in Armenia? Santosh Kumari Arora: The books arent being sold, I donate them to my good students as an encouragement. There are no Hindi readers here. Hindi is currently only taught in the faculty of Oriental studies, but only twice a week during a semester. And this period is very short for becoming a translator. There is no other Hindi lecturer in the University besides me. ARMENPRESS: Mrs. Arora, how many years have passed since who settled in Armenia for permanent residency? Santosh Kumari Arora: I am living in Armenia since 1987. I go to India every once in a while, however I wasn’t able to go in the last 4 years. ARMENPRESS: Did you adapt to Armenia easily? Santosh Kumari Arora: I didn’t have a problem of adaptation, since all nations are one family for me. All peoples are the same, people themselves have decided the religions and nationalities. ARMENPRESS: Did you have any job offers from other locations? Santosh Kumari Arora: I’ve been invited from many places, but I can’t stay anywhere more than a week, then I run back to Armenia. I have a family here, my friends. The Armenian spirit exists only here. Interview by Anna Grigoryan
One of the greatest hotel owners of the 20th century
Eturbo News
June 11, 2017 Sunday
June 11, 2017 Sunday
One of the greatest hotel owners of the 20th century
U.S., June 11
Julius Manger (1868-1937) was born in Boonville, Missouri. He graduated from the Tulane University Law School. At the age of twenty-eight, he engaged in the coffee business and was later associated with his brother, William, in the construction business in Galveston, Texas. They later located the hub of their business activities to New York City where they built more than 500 homes in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. They also built the Builders Exchange Building in Manhattan and in 1907 traded it for the Plaza Hotel in Chicago, which was the beginning of their successful venture as hotel owners and operators.
When William died in 1928, the Manger hotel properties were valued at $22 million and included luxury hotels in Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C. and New York. At one time, the Mangers owned 18 hotels in New York alone and others in Washington, D.C., Boston, Massachusetts and Rochester, N.Y. Some of the most famous Manger Hotels were:
* Manger Vanderbilt Hotel, New York
Opened in 1912 as a luxury hotel with a bath in each of the 585 guestrooms, the 20-story Vanderbilt Hotel was built by Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt. It was designed by Warren & Wetmore, architects of the Commodore, Biltmore, Ritz Carlton Hotels in New York; Providence Biltmore; Mayflower, Washington, D.C.; Royal Hawaiian, Honolulu; Broadmoor, Colorado Springs; Homestead Hotel, Hot Springs, Arkansas and Grand Central Terminal.
The Vanderbilt was designed primarily as an apartment hotel with permanent residences to accommodate a new generation of the rich who wanted freedom from household responsibilities. In its time, the Vanderbilt was one of the most widely-admired buildings for its extensive use of terra cotta, fabricated by the New Jersey Terra Cotta Company. The Works Progress Administration's 1939 "New York City Guide" called its "an example of the eclectic use of Italian Renaissance, Mexican and Adam English design influences."
In April 1913, Vanderbilt and his valet boarded the RMS Lusitania for a trip to London. The night before the Lusitania set sail, Alfred and Margaret attended the theater, seeing the Frohman and Belasco production of A Celebrated Case. The following morning, the Vanderbilts awoke to find a startling notice in the newspapers. Framed in black, a warning from the Imperial German Embassy reminded travelers that a state of war existed between Germany and Great Britain and anyone sailing on a ship flying the English flag "do so at their own risk."
The Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sunk. It was later reported that Alfred Vanderbilt removed his life jacket and personally strapped it on to a mother holding an infant. Unable to swim, his act of heroism sealed his own doom.
In 1941, the hotel was purchased from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company by the Manger Corporation and renamed the Manger Vanderbilt.
Manger operated the Vanderbilt through the 1964 New York World's Fair but then closed the hotel. It was sold for $3.625 million to an investment group headed by John E. Marqusee who converted the first six floors into offices and its upper floors into apartments.
* Gotham Hotel, New York
The Gotham was built in 1903 and was designed by the architectural firm of Hiss & Weekes in a Beaux-Arts style similar to the St. Regis Hotel across Fifth Avenue. In 1920, the hotel was sold to Julius and William Manger for about $4 million. Manger operated the Gotham Hotel until 1932 when the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company brought foreclosure proceedings against it.
While the imposing neo-Italian Renaissance Gotham Hotel was one of the few structures on Fifth Avenue which recalled the golden age of luxury hotels, it never seemed to find the favor it sought in part because it was overshadowed by the subsequent openings of the St. Regis Hotel across Fifth Avenue and the Plaza Hotel four blocks to the north. The Gotham suffered from its proximity to the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church across 55thStreet which prohibited liquor sales within 200 feet of a church.
* Manger Taft Hotel, New York
This 2,250-room hotel opened in 1926 with designs by architect H. Craig Severance who also designed 40 Wall Street, a 70-story skyscraper originally known as the Bank of Manhattan Trust building.
The Hotel Manger proclaimed itself as "the wonder hotel of New York- a modern marble palace with 2,000 outside rooms, servidors and circulating ice water." The Manger got into trouble with the feds for reportedly serving alcohol during Prohibition. A raid resulted in the arrest of several bellboys, waiters, and two bootleggers, as well as the temporary padlocking of the building.
After Manger sold the hotel in 1931, it was renamed for President William Howard Taft. The new owners leased the southwest corner of the building for the lobby of the adjacent Roxy Theater.
The Taft Hotel was a Manhattan landmark for fifty years. In its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s, it was the largest hotel in midtown, famed for the big bands performing in its Taft Grill which featured live entertainment such as the George Hall Orchestra, Artie Shaw, Xavier Cugat, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller and Tony Pastor. Vincent Lopez's dance band was one of the most popular of the 1920s and broadcast a radio show from the Taft.
To get an up-close description of life in the Taft, read "Hotel Kid: A Times Square Childhood" by Stephen Lewis whose father was the General Manager for thirty-three years. Filled with hotel anecdotes and childhood experiences, this delightful memoir is informative and amusing.
* Hotel Wolcott, New York
Although it opened on March 1, 1904, the Wolcott remains one of New York's best-kept hotel bargain secrets. It was designed by one of the most famous hotel architects in the United States: John Hemenway Duncan (1855-1929). He also designed Grant's Tomb, the Knox Hat Building (Fifth Avenue and 40th Street) and one of the greatest public monuments: the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. In 1923, the hotel was purchased by the Wolcott Operating Corporation, run by William and Julius Manger. They owned and operated the Wolcott until 1932.
* Martha Washington Hotel, New York
The Martha Washington Hotel opened on March 2, 1903 as the first New York hotel operated exclusively for women. All employees were women with a hostess and chaperones in attendance at all times.
The opening of the original Martha Washington Hotel was the capstone of more than fifty years of poor treatment of women travelers in the United States. Prior to the Civil War and thereafter in the 19th century, the lone women guest was looked upon with suspicion.
* Hay-Adams Hotel, Washington, D.C.
The Hay-Adams Hotel was built in 1928 to designs by Armenian-American architect Mihran Mesrobian in the Italian Renaissance style for developer Harry Wardman. Mesrobian also designed the Carlton Hotel and the Wardman Tower (now the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel). The Hay-Adams slogan is "where nothing is overlooked but the White House."
The Hay-Adams Hotel was purchased in 1933 by Julius Manger who, at the time, owned 18 hotels in New York City. The Manger family owned the Hay-Adams from 1933 to 1973 during which time the hotel was known as the Manger Hay-Adams.
* Hotel Manger, Boston, Massachusetts
When it opened in August 1930, it was one of the finest hotels in Boston with an unbeatable locational advantage: adjacent to the North Station and the Boston Garden. It contained 500 rooms and advertised: "each room equipped with Tub and Shower; Built in Radio Speaker, (Three-Station Service); Tickless Electric Clock; Servidor; Circulating Ice Water; French Telephone; Full Length Mirror.. New England's Most Modernly Equipped and Perfectly Appointed Hotel."
The hotel's name was changed to the Madison in 1958. Through its early life the hotel hosted National Basketball Association and National Hockey League teams scheduled to play at the adjacent old Boston Garden. The famous Beatles stayed there in 1964 and on September 12, 1964 held a press conference in the Madison Room of the hotel where three college students "crashed" and actually were able to ask the Beatles questions.
By the late 1960s and early 1970s the Madison Hotel, like much of the area around busy North Station, had lost its luster. By then, many of its more than 400 rooms housed homeless and low-income people. The Madison closed its doors in 1976. Ten years later, on Sunday, May 1, 1986 the hotel was demolished by implosion to make way for construction of the "Tip" O'Neil Federal Building, which now occupies the site. The old Boston Garden was torn down in the late 1990s after the construction of the Fleet Center.
* Seneca Hotel, Rochester, N.Y.
Rochester's new hotel opened on September 14, 1908 in time for the State Democratic Convention. The New York Times (September 13, 1908) reported:
The hostelry in size will compare with the Hotel Astor in New York. Its architecture is in a general way French Renaissance.
The main entrance to the lobby of the hotel is from a private street. This provides a porte-cochere, which affords protection to those alighting from carriages in inclement weather.
By the early 1920s, a 10-story addition was added to the Seneca, making it Rochester's largest hotel (500 rooms) and the meeting place for New York's power brokers. The hotel would host many Democratic Party functions featuring such politicians as John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.
In 1957, the Seneca was purchased by the Manger Hotel Company and became the Manger Seneca Hotel. The new owners renovated the building and introduced four new dining venues including an executive lounge for men. But with the expansion of the national highway system and the subsequent growth of roadside cabins, motels and motor inns, large urban hotels like the Manger Seneca could not survive. It was demolished in 1968.
Julius Manger died on March 29, 1937 in his suite at the Hay-Adams Hotel. He was 69 years old. He was buried in the Manger Mausoleum in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, N.Y. Architect/designer Franklin Naylor built the mausoleum in 1927 for Dominico Dumbra, but it was purchased by Julius Manger in 1935. It was one of the last hurrahs of the Golden Age of the Mausoleum which ran from around the end of the Civil War to the Great Depression. It is one of the most elegantly-crafted mausoleums in the United States and a suitable resting place for one of the greatest hotelmen of his time.
*excerpted from "Great American Hoteliers Volume 2: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry" AuthorHouse 2016
The author, Stanley Turkel, is a recognized authority and consultant in the hotel industry. He operates his hotel, hospitality and consulting practice specializing in asset management, operational audits and the effectiveness of hotel franchising agreements and litigation support assignments. Clients are hotel owners, investors and lending institutions. His books include: Great American Hoteliers: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry (2009), Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels in New York (2011), Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels East of the Mississippi (2013), Hotel Mavens: Lucius M. Boomer, George C. Boldt and Oscar of the Waldorf (2014), and Great American Hoteliers Volume 2: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry (2016), all of which may be ordered from AuthorHouse by visiting stanleyturkel.com
RFE/RL Armenian Report – 06/05/2017
Monday, June 5, 2017 Karabakh Army Chief Expects More Truce Violations . Hovannes Movsisian Nagorno-Karabakh - General Levon Mnatsakanian, commander of the Karabakh Armenian army, addresses military personnel, 10Dec2016. Azerbaijan will likely ratchet up tensions along "the line of contact" around Nagorno-Karabakh in the months ahead, the commander of Karabakh's Armenian-backed army claimed over the weekend. "Azerbaijan will certainly do everything keep up tensions on the frontline," Lieutenant General Levon Mnatsakanian told reporters in Stepanakert. "It will increasingly seek to inflict damage on us, while we will do everything to respond accordingly and, if need be, if we find it expedient, deal a final blow." Mnatsakanian said that in the past several months truce violations around Karabakh have been much less serious than they were last year, which saw heavy fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in April known as "the four-day war." Over the past year the Karabakh Armenian army has reinforced its frontline positions with new defense fortifications, more weapons as well as special equipment such as night-vision surveillance devices. The latter helped it fight back in late February two Azerbaijani commando raids that left at least five Azerbaijani soldiers dead. In Mnatsakanian's words, Azerbaijani special forces have not attempted more such incursions since then. "As regards gunshots fired from various weapons, they have decreased sharply since 2016," added the general. Truce violations on the Karabakh frontlines have periodically intensified this year. In the most recent escalation, Azerbaijani forces fired guided missiles at an air-defense system of Karabakh's Defense Army on May 16. The latter retaliated with mortar fire targeting Azerbaijani military facilities. The U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group condemned the "significant violations of the ceasefire." In a May 18 statement, they urged the parties to "take all necessary measures to prevent any further escalation in the conflict zone." A senior official in Stepanakert insisted on Friday that continuing armed incidents are unlikely to escalate into a full-scale war. Ombudsman Deplores Prison Health Care In Armenia . Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia - An ambulances leaves a prison hospital in Yerevan 6Mar2017. People serving prison sentences in Armenia often lack access to adequate health services and have to turn to their cellmates for medical assistance, the country's human rights ombudsman said on Monday. Arman Tatoyan drew this conclusion in a special report based on interviews that were conducted by representatives of his office as well as civic activists in various Armenian prisons last year. The report paints a grim picture of prison healthcare with concrete examples of unnamed inmates who claimed to have lacked proper treatment and medication for their illnesses and disabilities. One of them, a visually impaired person, is said to have been discharged from a prison hospital in Yerevan and sent back to jail despite being able to move around unaided. According to the report, another prisoner underwent only X-ray screening when he was hospitalized after suffering a broken leg. He subsequently relied on cellmates, rather than doctors or other prison staff, to meet his basic needs. "These practices are unacceptable," says the report. It also says that convicts in need of medical aid are not always transferred to prison or civilian hospitals in violation of European conventions and norms adopted by Armenia. It also cites cases of sick prisoners not being provided with necessary medicines. According to Tatoyan, law-enforcement authorities blame this on a lack of public funding for medical care in the penitentiary system. The ombudsman dismissed this explanation. Almost 3,900 persons served prison sentences or were under pre-trial arrest in Armenia as of September 2015, up from around 3,000 in 2005. According to the Council of Europe's Annual Penal Statistics (SPACE) released in March, 38 inmates died in Armenian prisons in 2014. Activists monitoring prison conditions in the country say such deaths primarily result from a lack of adequate and quick medical aid. Sarkisian Confronted By Protesters In Yerevan . Narine Ghalechian Armenia -- President Serzh Sarkisian speaks to protest#rs in Yerevan, 5June, 2017. President Serzh Sarkisian was confronted on Monday by about a dozen angry people dispossessed by a government-backed private construction company that demolished their homes in Yerevan years ago. The protesters are former residents of an old neighborhood in the city center that was due to be redeveloped by the now bankrupt company, Glendale Hills. The latter signed in 2007 contracts with over 100 owners of local houses who agreed to cede their land and properties in return for its formal pledge to give them new homes in apartment buildings which were due to be constructed in the area. The redeveloped project was never implemented. Around half of those families have still not received apartments or financial compensation. Some of those people gathered outside Sarkisian's residence early in the morning in the hope of speaking to the president and asking him to intervene. They waited for more than two hours before the presidential motorcade emerged from the secluded compound and stopped just outside it. "Mr. President, we have been homeless for ten years," one woman told Sarkisian after he got out of his limousine and approached the small crowd. "We have been badly mistreated, just like street dogs." "Mr. President, I had personally appealed to you," complained another woman. "You said you will see to it that my problem is urgently solved. We have still not received an answer." "Is it you who brought the journalists here?" replied a visibly irritated Sarkisian. "Why are they hindering us?" "They are not," retorted one of the women. "Alright, [officials] will come and look into the matter in the next two days," the president said before leaving the scene. The protesters argue that the Armenian government was a party to their 2007 contracts with Glendale Hills and must therefore help make sure that they are implemented. As one of them put it: "If the company is now liquidated, it means that the state must address the issue." Either they must pay us or give us apartments." Some displaced residents fear that they will only be offered rundown apartments in the city outskirts in breach of the developer's contractual obligations. Hundreds of Yerevan families were displaced in the 2000s during a massive redevelopment of parts of the city center. Many of them were forced out of their mostly old homes after refusing financial compensation which they believe was set well below the market value of their properties because of government corruption. Some appealed to the European Court of Human Rights after having their lawsuits against the government rejected by Armenian courts. The Strasbourg-based court has ordered the Armenian authorities to pay additional compensations to dozens of such families. Press Review (Saturday, June 3) "Hayots Ashkhar" is critical of a report by the International Crisis Group which claims that Armenia and Azerbaijan are closer to a renewed war for Nagorno-Karabakh than ever before. The paper notes that the report comes ahead of international mediators' fresh visit to the conflict zone and "seems to be somewhat depreciating" their efforts to step up the difficult search for a compromise peace formula. "Zhamanak" says that Armenian politics is increasingly dominated by the question of what President Serzh Sarkisian will do after completing his second and final term in office in April next year. The paper complains that it has overshadowed other important issues. "The only issue on the political agenda in Armenia is government infighting and its likely outcome," it says. "The public has become a mere spectator in this process." "168 Zham" notes that official photographs of Sarkisian's meetings held with some government ministers in recent weeks exposed books in the Armenian and foreign languages that seem to have been demonstratively placed on the presidential desk. In a written response to the paper, Sarkisian said: "The books on my desk are both gifts from various individuals and books which I read or re-read when I have time. By being surrounded by books in my office, I feel protected and insured by the power of books and knowledge. As regards my literary preferences, I am currently re-reading Niall Ferguson's `Politics' and Helmut Schoeck's `Envy' as well as works of [Armenian poet] Yeghishe Charents." "Hraparak" looks at structural changes within the Armenian government that are mandated by the country's amended constitution. The paper says that as part of those changes Armenia's police and National Security Service (NSS) may be merged into a single ministry of internal affairs. Alternatively, it says, the police may be merged with the Ministry of Emergency Situations. There are already rumors that the national police chief, Vladimir Gasparian, might be sacked as a result, according to the paper. (Artur Papian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Soccer: Mkhitaryan dedicates Europa League win to family, Manchester and all Armenians
Public Radio of Armenia
09:03,
Manchester United’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan has dedicated the UEFA Europa League win to family, Manchester and all Armenians.
“Cmon United!!! So so so so happy with our win tonight! I dedicate this trophy to my family, to Manchester and to all Armenians!” Mkhitaryn said in a Facebook post following United’s triumph in Europa League final against Ajax.
Goals from Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan won an emotional final in Stockholm.
Pogba scored with a deflected strike before Mkhitaryan’s close-range finish on an emotional night in Stockholm.
Armenian Henrikh Mkhitaryan added to the lead early in the second period, flicking home from close range after Ajax failed to deal with a corner from the right.
BSEC not the place to discuss the Karabakh issue – Armenia Deputy FM
The summit dedicated the 25th anniversary of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) was held in Istanbul on May 22. The summit was preceded by a special meeting of BSEC Council of Foreign Ministers and the sitting of the Committee of Senior Officials.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayip Erdogan offered opening remarks at the summit. Attending the event were the Presidents of Greece and Moldova, the Russian Prime Minister, Foreign Ministers ad Deputy Foreign Ministers from a number of countries.
Addressing the summit, the Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimyan referred to the work done over the 25 years of the organization’s existence, emphasizing the need to develop and reinforce its economic component.  He stressed that the regional economic cooperation, the economic projects in bilateral and multilateral formats cannot be fully implemented under the conditions of closed borders. He said the projects should involve all member countries without any discrimination.
In response to Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker Oktay Assdov’s accusations addressed to Armenia, Ashot Hovakimyan noted that “once again the Azerbaijani representative tried to use the BSEC podium to present the distorted picture of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.”
“We are confident that this summit is not the place and BSEC is not the format, where the Karabakh issue should be discussed. By doing so the Azerbaijani side demonstrated its disrespect for the BSEC Statute, the principles and goals of the organization and this summit,” Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister said.
Ashot Hovakimyan noted that “ progress in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement can be achieved only in case Azerbaijan refuses from its policy of force and engages in negotiations within the agreed format of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship.”
The summit adopted a declaration, which reiterated the organization’s economic nature.
OSCE Secr. Gen, on forthcoming closure of office in Yerevan, commends work of its staff
States News Service May 18, 2017 Thursday OSCE SECRETARY GENERAL, ON FORTHCOMING CLOSURE OF OFFICE IN YEREVAN, COMMENDS WORK OF ITS STAFF VIENNA, Austria The following information was released by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE): OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier said today that the Organization had to start the process of closure of the Office in Yerevan, since no consensus could be reached on the future mandate of the Office. The closure of the OSCE Office in Yerevan follows months of negotiations and extensive efforts by the 2016 German OSCE Chairmanship and the 2017 Austrian OSCE Chairmanship to resolve the deadlock on the extension of the Office's mandate. The OSCE opened its field presence in Armenia in 2000. Zannier said that the Office in Yerevan, with its dedicated staff, had made a significant contribution in assisting and advising the Armenian authorities on the implementation of OSCE commitments. "Co-operation with Armenia has always been very fruitful," he said. The OSCE's activities in the country included, among others, assistance with police reforms and support for reviewing and streamlining the national regulatory frameworks affecting business activity and the daily lives of citizens. In 2006, the Office in Yerevan established a Programme Implementation Presence in the Syunik region to contribute to sustainable development. Secretary General Zannier emphasized that the OSCE will seek to continue its engagement with Armenia in line with existing OSCE commitments across all three security dimensions the politico-military, the economic and environmental and the human dimension. The Office in Yerevan will discontinue its operations on 31 August 2017.
Artsakh Defense Army releases footage of suppressive actions against Azeri troops
The Artsakh Defense Ministry has released the footage of suppressive actions the Defense Army undertook in response to the activeness of the Azerbaijani troops at the line of contact on the night of May 17.
The Defense Army says it possesses authentic information on the losses the Azeri troops have incurred.
Turkey detains opposition newspaper editor
An editor at a leading opposition newspaper in Turkey has been detained for questioning, the Associated Press reports.
Oguz Guven, the editor of pro-secular Cumhuriyet newspaper’s online edition, tweeted Friday “I’m being detained.”
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said Guven was detained for a news article on the death of prosecutor Mustafa Alper in a traffic accident Wednesday. Details about the article in question have not been released.
Alper, chief prosecutor of Denizli province in southwest Turkey, filed the first indictment against the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen following last summer’s coup attempt.
The Turkish government blames Gulen for orchestrating the coup, which he denies.
Twelve journalists and senior staff members of Cumhuriyet are behind bars pending trial on “aiding terrorist organizations.”
Safarov extradition prelude to April war – Artsakh Ombudsman
The Human Rights Defender of Artsakh is on a visit to Budapest, Hungary, to attend an International Conference on “Victims of armed conflicts at the juncture of international humanitarian law and human rights law.”
The Conference has been organized by the foreign affairs agencies of Hungary and Switzerland.
On 10 May Ruben Melikyan had meetings with the leadership and members of Armenian self-government in Hungary, with the Spokesman of the Armenian minority in the Hungarian Parliament Dr. Tamás Turgyán, and had an interview with Armenian minority program broadcasted by the Hungarian Public Radio.
While referring to Ramil Safarov’s extradition, Mr. Melikyan highlighted its causal link with the atrocities carried out by Azerbaijani armed forces during the 2016 April War.
Ruben Melikyan noted that Safarov’s glorification was accompanied by the state encouragement to set his crime exemplary for the Azerbaijani youth, and the example was taken in April 2016.
The ombudsman added that Artsakh people remember the thousands of Hungarian citizens, who raised their voice of protest against the decision to extradite Safarov.