Author: Hagop Kamalian

The fifth round of informal ministerial dialogues of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) member states will take place in Minsk on 29 June, BelTA reports, quoting Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Belarus.

“Belarus will preside at the fifth round of informal ministerial dialogues of the EaP member states in Minsk on 29 June. The round will include a meeting of the ministers of environment and a meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the EaP member states,” the ministry said.

Partaking in the meeting of the EaP ministers of environment will be European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella and State Secretary of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of Latvia Guntis Pukitis.

Informal ministerial dialogues of the Eastern Partnership member states at the level of the ministers of foreign affairs and heads of other ministries have been held since 2012. The four previous rounds were held in Chisinau (June 2012), Tbilisi (February 2013, transport), Yerevan (September 2013, education) and Baku (September 2014, energy). The main objective of the informal ministerial dialogues is to provide a platform for a regular open exchange of opinions on the most important issues in the EaP activity and the issues of the international agenda. The adoption of final documents or statements is not envisaged.

A Taliban suicide bomber and gunmen attacked the Afghan parliament on Monday, shattering windows, wounding at least 19 people and sending a plume of black smoke across Kabul, as a second district in two days fell to the Islamist group in the north, Reuters reports.

Four women were among the 19 wounded, said Sayed Kabir Amiri, a health official who coordinates Kabul hospitals.

“A suicide bomber blew himself up just outside the parliament building and several fighters took positions in a building close to parliament,” said Ebadullah Karimi, spokesman for Kabul police.

Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said all lawmakers were safe and that fighting was ongoing. TV pictures showed leglislators calmly leaving the building which was engulfed with dust and smoke.

 

Mustafa Isciler, a history student at Boğaziçi University of Istanbul, will bike from Van to Yerevan, Ermenihaber.am reports, quoting the Turkish Birgun website.  According to the source, the student wants to write down the memories and stories of the people living in those regions.

Mustafa Isciler intends to conduct field research on Islamized Armenians, Genocide and Yezidis for his Master’s thesis.

The trip will kick off on August 12 and will continue for three weeks. The route includes the Akhtamar Island, the ancient Armenian villages, Mount Ararat, Bayazet, Igdir, Kars, Ani, etc., as well as Georgia and Armenia.

Isciler told Birgun that he will not be alone on the journey. A six-member group will start the trip from Istanbul; they will be joined by a six-member group of Armenians in Diyarbekir.

The researchers will write down people’s memories and stories in every village and will prepare a documentary.

The Public Radio of Armenia is 89.

May 7 is Radio Day, an invention that changed the world, in general, and the world of communication, in particular.

On August 27, 1926 the “Soviet Armenia” newspaper informed: “The construction of the radio station in Yerevan has been completed. The station will start operating in five days.”

The Voice of Yerevan was first heard on air in September, 1926. On April 6, 1927 the first radio schedule consisting of news and concerts was printed in the press.

The Day of Radio was first observed in Moscow on May 7, 1945. From that time on May 7 has been marked in Armenia as Radio Day.