Author: Diana Dabaghian

Photo: U.S. Department of State

– During an interview with Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace, United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the U.S. had summoned the Turkish Ambassador to the State Department to express “dismay” regarding the attack against peaceful demonstrators outside the Turkish Ambassador’s residence. During the May 21 interview, Tillerson also said that an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

“Well, we did call the Ambassador of Turkey into the State Department to discuss what occurred with them and express our view that this is certainly unacceptable,” said Tillerson when asked if he was going to take action against the pro-Erdogan groups and members of his security detail who were responsible for the attacks. “There is an ongoing investigation, Chris, and we think we’ll wait and see what the outcome of that investigation is. But we have expressed our dismay at what occurred at the Turkish Embassy,” Tillerson added.

When Fox News mentioned Senator John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) call to expel the Turkish Ambassador from the U.S., Tillerson responded that the investigation must conclude before making any such decisions.

On May 17, the State Department announced that it was “concerned by the violent incidents involving protesters and Turkish Security personnel,” stating that “violence is never an appropriate response to free speech.”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry to Ankara on May 22 to convey a diplomatic note over a street brawl outside the Turkish diplomatic mission in Washington during Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to the US.

Baku continues the gross violations of the trilateral cease-fire agreements in defiance to the consistent calls of the Co-Chair countries and the international community, Armenia’s acting Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said, addressing the 127th Session of the Committee of the Ministers of the Council of Europe in Cyprus. Edward Nalbandian’s full speech is provided below:

Mr. Chairman,
Mr. Secretary General,
Dear Colleagues,

Dear Ioannis, dear friend, congratulations for your successful chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. The priorities of the Cyprus Chairmanship were well placed to address the current challenges that the Europe faces.

Protection of cultural heritage is important for the Armenian people that have suffered immense losses of cultural legacy throughout its history and most recently in Azerbaijan by the hands of its government and in Syria by the terrorist groups. In this regard we welcome the adoption of the Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property,

Another focus of the Chairmanship on Democracy through Education is an important dimension of fostering inclusive and tolerant societies. The right of people to their memory, their right to teaching and learning history of past tragedies through education and remembrance has a pivotal role in preventing genocides and crimes against humanity.

Dear Colleagues,

It is commendable that in his annual report on the “State of Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law” the Secretary General has highlighted populism, which is particularly dangerous, when combined with state sponsored hate speech and xenophobia. Free media, education for democratic citizenship and human rights, active civil society are essential in overcoming this phenomenon. Moreover, the notion of “rule of law” represents a concept that is diametrically opposed to “the rule by force” or “use of force”.

We already had an opportunity to share another view of the Secretary General on the concept of “Democratic Security”, according to which democracies are less likely to go to war. Obviously, authoritarian regimes do not face this dilemma.

Such a case was witnessed during new large-scale offensive in April 2016, when Azerbaijan committed gross violations of international humanitarian and human rights law against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Two Summits were convened after the April aggression of Azerbaijan, where agreements were reached aimed at creating conducive conditions for advancement of the peace process. Baku refuses to implement these agreements although their importance has been highlighted on numerous occasions, including during April 28 trilateral mebakueting of ministers of foreign affairs of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Moreover, Baku continues the gross violations of the trilateral cease-fire agreements in defiance to the consistent calls of the Co-Chair countries and the international community.

We value the recent initiatives that call on the equal application of the pan-European human rights instruments to the whole continent without distinction, including in the conflict zones. It is the primary goal of Council of Europe to ensure that the common values and individual rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights are not dependent on the status of the territory where people live.

Dear Colleagues,

On the April 2nd the parliamentary elections were held in Armenia. They were marked by unprecedented high number of international observers, who stated that the elections were well administered, fundamental freedoms were respected, and the results reflected the will of the population.

Armenia highly appreciates the contribution of international partners to its reforms aimed at consolidating the democratic institutions and the electoral process, in particular the expertise provided by the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission. We look forward to the continuation of fruitful cooperation in this regard.

Regarding the recent institutional crisis and credible reports on corruption in the PACE, we join the calls for full investigation of the situation in order to rectify the damage done to this Organization.

And finally, I want to use the opportunity to wish all the success to the incoming chairmanship of the Czech Republic.

Thank you.

Photo: Reuters

Friday’s cyber-attack has affected more than 200,000 victims in 150 countries, Europol chief Rob Wainwright says, the BBC reports.

Speaking to Britain’s ITV, he said the world faced an escalating threat, and there was concern about the level of potential attacks on Monday morning.

The virus took control of users’ files, demanding payments; Russia and the UK were among the worst-hit countries.

Security experts have warned that another attack is imminent and could be unstoppable.

Mr Wainwright said he was concerned that the numbers of those affected would continue to rise when people returned to work on Monday morning.

“We’re in the face of an escalating threat, the numbers are going up,” he said, adding that the current attack was unprecedented.

“We are running around 200 global operations against cyber crime each year but we’ve never seen anything like this.

“The latest count is over 200,000 victims in at least 150 countries. Many of those victims will be businesses, including large corporations. The global reach is unprecedented.”

He said the ransomware was unique because it was used in combination with a worm – allowing it to spread through an infected computer through an entire network.

However, Mr Wainwright said that so far “remarkably few” payments had been made by victims of the attack.

Today, the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Peru to the Republic of Armenia Luis Benjamin Chimoy Arteaga (residence in Moscow) presented his credentials to Serzh Sargsyan, President’s Press Office reports.

The President of Armenia congratulated the Ambassador on the commencement of his diplomatic mission in Armenia, wished him success and expressed hope that through his active work the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in coming years will receive a new boost. The President underscored that despite geographical distance, Armenia has formed very warm and strong relations with a number of Latin-American countries, including Peru, which was promoted also by the hospitable attitude of these countries towards a segment of the Armenian people which in at the beginning of the previous century had managed to escape the Genocide and find refuge in Latin America.

Ambassador Arteaga thanked the President of Armenia for the reception and assured that he would do his best to improve and deepen the bilateral relations between Armenia and Peru.

The parties concurred that the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries is an important milestone for the re-evaluation and strengthening of the friendly ties between Armenia and Peru.

At the meeting, discussed were the opportunities and prospects for the expansion of the Armenian-Peruvian cooperation in different areas.

The parties also discussed regional issues and developments.

The Azerbaijani side used firearms of different calibers as it violated the ceasefire more than 65 times at the line of contact with the Artsakh forces, firing over 1,700 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions.

The Azeri forces also used a 82mm mortar (4 shells) and D-44 cannons (8 shells) in Martakert direction.

Aside from ceasefire violations, the Azerbaijani side moved armored vehicles (about 10 tanks) in Tapkarakoyunlu-Talish direction at about 13:30, May 10. The tanks returned to their initial positions at 14:55.

The front divisions of the Artsakh defense Army resorted to response actions to pressure the activeness of the rival and continued with their duty all along the line of contact.