Author: Jane Topchian

One policeman has been killed, two others are wounded after an armesd attack on the headquarters of the patrol force regiment of Armenia’s Police this morning.

The group took a restricted number of policemen hostage, demanding the release of Zhirayr Sefilyan arrested about a month ago on accusation of illegally purchasing, transporting and keeping weapons.

Two hostages have been freed, the Police said in a statement.

“The Armenian law-enforcement bodies keep control of the situation and take all necessary measures to settle it. At the same time the National Security Service urges to disseminate information only from official sources, information from other sources contributes to the criminal actions, creates threat to the lives and health of the people.

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan participated at the meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the NATO member and non-member states dedicated to the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan which is held in framework of the NATO Summit. The President of Armenia made the following statement:

Distinguished President Duda,

Distinguished Secretary General,

Dear Colleagues,

We are all here united by the idea that it is necessary to provide the friendly people of Afghanistan with peace, security and stability.

Armenia, as an advocate for the cooperative security, is determined to make its modest contribution to the efforts in consolidation of international peace and security. In the course of the Peacekeeping Summit, which took place in New York in September 2015, Armenia undertook additional commitments to develop capabilities such as Role II medical hospital and training of associated personnel, as well as training of a company of EOD/C-IED (Explosive Ordnance Disposal & Counter-Improvised Explosive Device). We have reiterated our engagement with up to 130 servicemen with the Resolute Support mission, and stand ready to continue with it also beyond the year 2016. In this context, I should like to underline the effective cooperation we have enjoyed with Germany, and that, in my view, is one of the best and most illustrious examples of a partnership between a NATO member State and Partner Nation.

We have also expressed our readiness to participate in the NATO Enduring Partnership mission, when it will replace the Resolute Support mission. With that objective in mind Armenia has already engaged with the planning process for the establishment of a civilian-led temporary presence.

Dear Colleagues,

Armenia is also an active advocate for peace and stability in our region, and it has always stood for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh issue, which is the most vital issue we face. On May 16 in Vienna a meeting took place with the high representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, namely the U.S. Secretary of State, Russian Foreign Minister and French State Secretary for European Affairs, which resulted in their Joint Statement that reiterated that there could be no military solution to the conflict, and further underlined the importance of respecting the 1994 agreement on ceasefire and 1995 agreement on consolidation of the ceasefire regime, both of which were unconditional.

Meanwhile, the Statement also registered introduction of the OSCE investigative mechanism to record the violations of the ceasefire and expansion of the capabilities of the existing office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. These approaches were further consolidated in the statement adopted by the trilateral meeting held in Saint Petersburg with the participation of the Presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. As for the allegations voiced by the President of Azerbaijan, I don’t believe it is appropriate to artificially turn this meeting and the NATO declarations into a platform for the discussions of the NK issue: there is a specialized structure for it. I see it as my duty to underscore that today the main obstacle on the road towards the settlement of the conflict is the policy conducted by the highest leadership of Azerbaijan and the lack of will to solve the problem peacefully. It was vividly demonstrated by the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh last April, which was a heavy blow to the efforts carried out by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and aimed at the peaceful settlement of the issue. The status quo will change when the people of Nagorno Karabakh will received the opportunity to exercise their right of self-determination.

Thank you.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Barcelona football star Lionel Messi and his father will appeal against a Spanish court decision to sentence them each to 21 months in jail for tax fraud, the player’s lawyers say, the BBC reports.

Argentine Messi, aged 29, was also fined €2m euros (£1.7m; $2.2m) by the court in Barcelona.

In addition to the prison term, Messi’s father, Jorge, was fined €1.5m for defrauding Spain of €4.1m in 2007-09.

However, neither man is expected to serve time in jail.

Under the Spanish legal system, prison terms of under two years can be served under probation.

Pope Francis has sent a video message to the people ofArmenia, ahead of his visit to the country this weekend. In the message – delivered in Italian – the Holy Father says, “[It is] as a servant of the Gospel and a messenger of peace [that] I desire to come among you, to support [your] every effort towards peace – and I would share our steps on the pathway of reconciliation, which generates hope,” reports.

The full text of the message is below:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In a few days I will have the joy to be with you, in Armenia. Even now, I invite you to pray for this Apostolic journey.

With the help of God, I come among you to fulfil, as the motto of the trip says, a “visit to the first Christian country”. I come as a pilgrim, in this Jubilee Year, to draw on the ancient wisdom of your people and to steep myself the sources of your faith, which is steadfast as your famous crosses carved in stone.

I come to the mystical heights of Armenia as your brother, animated by the desire to see your faces, to pray with you and to share the gift of friendship. Your history and the events of your beloved people stir in me admiration and sorrow: admiration, for you have found in Jesus’ Cross and in your own wits, the wherewithal ever to pick yourselves up and start anew – even after sufferings that are among the most terrible in human memory; pain, for the tragedies that your fathers have lived in their flesh.

Let us not allow the painful memories to take possession of our hearts; even in the face of the repeated assaults of evil, let us not give ourselves up. Let us rather do as Noah, who, after the flood, never tired of looking to heaven and releasing the dove again and again, until one day it came back to him, bringing a tender olive leaf (Gen. 8:11): it was the sign that life could resume and [that] hope must rise.

As servant of the Gospel and a messenger of peace I desire to come among you, to support [your] every effort towards peace – and I would share our steps on the pathway of reconciliation, which generates hope.

May the great saints of your people, especially the Doctor of the Church, Gregory of Narek, bless our meetings, to which I look forward with tender longing. In particular, I look forward to embracing my Brother, Karekin, and, along with him, to give fresh impetus to our path towards full unity.

Last year, from several countries, you came to Rome, and at the tomb of St. Peter, we prayed together. Now I come to your blessed land to strengthen our communion, to advance along the path of reconciliation, and to allow ourselves together to be animated by hope.

President Serzh Sargsyan received Herbert Salber, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Conflict in Georgia.

President Sargsyan presented his views on the escalation of the situation as a result of Azerbaijan’s non-constructive and belligerent stance, and the reasons behind that country’s attempts to foil the negotiation process.

Referring to the facts of the war crimes committed by the Azeri armed forces during the April events, President Sargsyan stressed the need for immediate reaction on the part of the international community and specialized bodies to such impermissible and condemnable actions.

The parties underlined that there is no alternative to the peaceful resolution of the conflict.

The Azerbaijani side kept violating the ceasefire regime all along the line of contact with Karabakh forces last night, NKR Ministry of Defense reports.

The rival used artillery weapons of various caliber, as well as 60, 82 and 120 mm mortars.

Serviceman of the NKR Defense Army Ashot Shavarsh Zohrabyan (born in 1991) was killed a result of firing in the eastern direction (Martuni) of the frontline.

The NKR Defense Ministry shares the sorrow of the heavy loss and expresses its condolences to the family and friends of the killed serviceman.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army undertook relevant measures to pressure the activeness of the rival.

Photo: Daro Salukauri/Bloomberg

 

War can break out “at any moment” in Nagorno-Karabakh and there’s little prospect of talks to resolve the conflict, the President of Armenia said.

A Russian-brokered truce may not be enough to prevent fighting “on an even larger scale” after four days of war between Azeris and Armenians this month that involved “several hundred tanks” and 30,000 artillery rounds, Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with at the presidential residence in Yerevan.

It’s “unreasonable” for Armenia to resume peace talks with Azerbaijan without security guarantees because “the situation is entirely different now,” he said.

“On the one hand we’d be talking somewhere while, on the other, military officials would be engaging in war here to try to settle the conflict,” he said.

Speaking about Russian Foreign Minister’s visit to Armenia, President Sargsyan said “Lavrov didn’t “bring any new proposals” because “he realizes very well that it doesn’t make sense to talk about negotiations immediately after a four-day war.”

Battles raged along the full 200-kilometer length of the front line as Azerbaijan tried to punch through to Nagorno-Karabakh itself and then “issue an ultimatum” to Karabakh, he said.

Sargsyan said Azeri troops took “very small pieces” of land in the north and south of the contact line that “had no strategic importance” for Armenian forces, who didn’t try to reclaim them “to avoid additional losses” of life, he said.

While the chief of the defense staff in Moscow mediated the cease-fire talks, there’s no place for Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone to separate the two sides, Sargsyan said. Talk of deploying Russian forces “wasn’t entirely without grounds” in previous peace negotiations, though “I don’t see any such opportunity” now, he said.

“If there are no negotiations, how can Russian forces appear in Karabakh or between Azeri and Karabakh forces?” Sargsyan said. Russia’s pursuing a “balanced policy” between Armenia and Azerbaijan while seeking to avert “large-scale military conflict,” he said.

Sargsyan said Russian, U.S. and French mediators from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe must put in place “confidence-building measures” before any new peace talks, and particularly “an investigation mechanism for violations of the cease-fire that would pinpoint exactly which party” was responsible. Armenia also requires “assurances that these kinds of violations will not happen again,” he said.

President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and  Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan visited the Central Military Hospital in capital Stepanakert today to get acquainted with the condition of servicemen wounded while suppressing the Azerbaijani aggression.

The Presidents expressed their gratitude to the Defense Army soldiers for their courage and wished all the wounded speedy recovery.

In response to the recent shelling of Armenian villages in Artsakh (also known Nagorno-Karabakh) by Azerbaijan, Los Angeles Councilmember Paul Krekorian and other elected officials joined with Armenian-American civic and religious leaders to make a call for peace in the Caucasus region, where violence by Azerbaijan’s government has taken dozens of innocent lives in recent days.

L.A. City Councilman Paul Krekorian told that the vigil was meant to call for peace and to denounce what he described as the “outrageous militarization and vicious attacks” by Azerbaijan against those living in the Artsakh region.

“They have routinely violated the ceasefire since 1994, but this last week has seen a dramatic escalation of that,” Krekorian said. “It’s outrageous, it’s unjustifiable, and it should be denounced by the entire international community.”

Krekorian said that peace in the region is in the interests of the United States and that these attacks may constitute war crimes.

“So that’s why we are putting together this vigil, and that’s why we’re going to continue to demand action from our own government in Washington to ensure that we bring peace back to this region,” Krekorian said.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will visit Armenia April 7-8 to participate in the sitting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, Press Service of the Russian government informs.

The current state and perspectives of bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade and economy, investments, energy, industry, culture and other fields will be discussed during negotiations with the Armenian leadership.

A number of intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents are expected to be signed.

The sitting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council will take place on April 8. The priorities of Eurasian economic integration will be on the agenda.