Author: Arsine Chaltikian

MOSCOW, September 6. /TASS/. The name of the new secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be announced at a meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Yerevan on October 14, that will be a representative of Armenia, the organization’s Secretary General, Nikolai Bordyuzha, told on Tuesday.

“Armenia’s representative will be my successor as the CSTO secretary general, who exactly, I cannot say now… His name will be announced at the upcoming meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council at the presidential level in Yerevan on October 14,” he said.

Manchester United’s midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan Henrikh Mkhitaryan has shared the photos of Armenian medalists at Rio Olympics.

“Olympic gold‬ for Armenia Really proud of our sportsmen in ‪‎Rio2016‬. Artur Aleksanyan (Gold), Migran Arutyunyan (Silver), Simon Martirosyan (Silver), Gor Minasyan (Silver),” Mkhitaryan wrote in a Facebook post. 

– The Manchester Music Festival’s third concert of the season will spotlight two virtuoso Russian-born musicians: pianist Vassily Primakov and clarinetist Alexey Gorokholinsky.

The concert, “Music From Russia and Armenia,” will take place July 21 at 7:30 PM at the Southern Vermont Arts Center’s Arkell Pavilion on Manchester West Road.

“Russia and Armenia, both part of the old Soviet Bloc, have rich traditions in music and have produced some of the world’s greatest composers,” said Ariel Rudiakov, the Festival’s Artistic Director. “This is an evening not to be missed.”

The Thursday night program will highlight the music of Aram Khachaturian, Modest Mussorgksky and Mikhail Glinka, who is often regarded as the fountainhead of Russian classical music.

On stage with Primakov and Gororkholinsky will be Joana Genova and Jesse Mills, violins; Ariel Rudiakov, viola; Thomas Landschoot, cello; and additional guest artist Steven Moran, double bass. Mills and Landschoot are new to MMF’s faculty this year.

Mr. Landschoot, a native of Belgium, has an international career as a member of the acclaimed Rossetti string quartet and as a soloist. He started his musical life as a top prize winner of the ‘Jeunesse Musicales’ competition in Bucharest, Romania. He is currently on the faculty of Arizona State University and is founder and artistic director of the Sonoran Chamber Music Festival.

Jesse Mills, a two time Grammy award nominee, is also a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay, Robert Mann and Itzhak Perlman.

The July 21 concert program includes Khachaturian’s Trio for clarinet, violin and piano; Glinka’s Grand Sextet in E flat major; and Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ for solo piano.

A brilliant strike by Eder clinched Portugal’s first-ever major title, as the nation prevailed over hosts France 1-0 to take the Euro 2016 trophy.

Fernando Santos’ men suffered a blow early on when Cristiano Ronaldo was taken off injured, and Rui Patricio made a string of excellent saves to keep France at bay.

Photo: Getty Images

 

The French government has urged cities hosting Euro 2016 matches to ban alcohol near venues and fan zones, the reports.

It follows three days of clashes between fans and police in Marseille.

Uefa is investigating after Russia supporters appeared to rush at England fans in the stadium after their draw on Saturday. It has threatened to ban both teams if there is further fan violence.

The UK government has offered to send extra British police ahead of England’s next match in Lens on Thursday.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said: “I have asked for all necessary measures to be taken to prohibit the sale, consumption and transport of alcoholic drinks in sensitive areas on match days and the day before, and on days when fan zones are open.”

The ban will include public areas, as well as shops and off-licences, Mr Cazeneuve said.

Senior local officials can also ban bars and cafes from serving drinks on their terraces in containers that can be used as missiles.

“The events which took place in Marseille… are unacceptable. Unacceptable for the authorities, unacceptable for society, unacceptable for football lovers,” Mr Cazeneuve said.

Hence, Google has dedicated its Doodle to UEFA’s showpiece continental football tournament.

Today’s Doodle shows a cockerel, in the red, white and blue of the French flag, heralding the start of the tournament, reports the Mirror.

In the second doodle, the L of Google is shaped like the Eiffel Tower and it shows off its footballing skills.

Giving all the information in one graphic, it has 24 flags, with 16 flags on the left and eight on the right.

This is the first time in the history of the tournament that 24 teams will be participating.

Euro 2016 will be played in France from June 10, with the final on July 10. The venues for the tournament will be Paris, Lille, Lyon, Saint-Denis, Nice, Toulouse, Saint-Etienne, Marseille, Bordeaux and Lens.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz, a German Social Democrat, has written an open letter to Erdogan, saying differences of opinion among elected officials should not prompt allegations of terrorist sympathies.

“Such an act constitutes a complete breach of a taboo, which I condemn as strongly as possible,” Schulz wrote. “As the president of a multi-national, multi-ethnic and multi-faith parliament, allow me to make the following point: MPs’ freedom to carry out their mandate as they see fit is a fundamental pillar of our European democracies.”

Turkey is one of several countries recognized as a candidate for potential EU membership one day. Schulz sought to defend both German MPs and those in Turkey opposed to Erdogan’s policies.

“A string of the German Bundestag MPs you have personally attacked, but also Turkish parliamentarians affected by measures which you support, are amongst longstanding colleagues of mine, some of them are very close to me personally,” Schulz said. “I feel obliged to protect these colleagues wherever I can.”

Ruben Melikyan, Ombudsperson of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Artsakh Republic) has sent a letter to Kersten Steinke Parliamentary Ombudsperson, Head of Bundestag Petitions Committee. The letter reads:
“Dear Ms. Steinke,

As the ombudsperson of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), I would like to express my gratitude for Germany’s decision to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
The decision of the Bundestag means very much to us. We realize that the only reason behind this decision is Germany’s faith in justice and commitment to universal values. For many years, we had the impression that the Turkish lobby in Germany was so strong that they would always be able to block such recognition. However, your nation proved in the best possible way that no one is able to conceal grave crimes or silence the truth in Germany. And that Human Rights have no borders – neither in time nor in space.

Back in 1915, Germany was in alliance with the Ottoman Empire, and many eyewitnesses of the horrible atrocities against Armenians were German nationals that happened to be assigned for duty in Turkey. Consequently, a significant part of the historical data proving the fact of the Armenian Genocide is kept in the German archives.

Dear Madam,

Unfortunately, during the recent years, the world is undergoing through another phase of turbulence and instability. I believe that six years ago, no one would predict the variety of conflicts and crises that we are facing now, and some currently predict more challenges for democracy ahead, inter alia because of the slow economic growth around the world. Nowadays, our duty is to put a maximum effort for strengthening human rights protection in our counties. I myself serve a young democracy that is committed to the European values. We deem our duty to uphold the European standards of human rights and democracy. For that reason, I would very much appreciate your cooperation in bringing the best practices of human rights protection to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Because of the conflict with Azerbaijan, we lack the presence of international NGOs and human rights watchdogs in our country. But we firmly believe that the presence of NGOs and third party observers in Nagorno-Karabakh would not only strengthen our democracy, but also facilitate the resolution of the conflict. We keep alarming the international community about the violations of the ceasefire by Azerbaijan. Less than two months ago, we even witnessed an all-out armed aggression by the Azerbaijani forces, which, if succeeded, would definitely result in another genocide or ethnic cleansing of the Armenians. We even had a number of ISIS-style war crimes committed by Azerbaijani soldiers during the war (see ).

However, there is no third party present here to confirm independently these crimes, which leaves room for speculations and uncertainty. If we had international non-governmental observers, none of these crimes and belligerent actions would remain unconfirmed, and none of the conflict parties would seek a military solution to the conflict, and this would considerably foster the peace process.

Once again, I would like to express my gratitude to you, as a member of Bundestag and the parliamentary ombudsperson, for your historic resolution. Danke, Deutschland!”

Former Miss Turkey and model Merve Büyüksaraç has been sentenced to prison for “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his prime ministry via a post on Instagram. A complaint was filed against Büyüksaraç, who was chosen Miss Turkey in 2006, for “openly insulting a public official for his duty,” the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

“The boundaries of criticism shouldn’t be interpreted harshly due to the complainant being a state authority. We think that the statements my client shared should be evaluated politically. That’s why we demand the acquittal of my client,” said Ali Deniz Ceylan, Büyüksaraç’s lawyer, on May 31.

The prison sentence of one year, two months and 17 days was postponed. Up to four years and five months in prison was sought for Büyüksaraç.

The lawyers of the parties were the only participants in the hearing, in which Erdoğan’s lawyer claimed that Büyüksaraç’s statements could not be evaluated within the framework of criticism.

“An attack took place against the personal rights of my client. We want the defendant to be punished,” said Erdoğan’s lawyer, Hatice Özay.

Büyüksaraç had said that she was regretful in her defense in the first hearing of the case and asked for her acquittal.

“The poem I’ve shared was shared 960,000 times on social media. I shared the poem via giving quotes from it. The comments near the pictures and the poems, which are in the bill of indictment, don’t belong to me,” Büyüksaraç said.

“I’m regretful that the post I shared was perceived as an insult,” she also said.