Author: Lena Karagyozian

The wife of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday hailed the harem of the Ottoman sultans as “a school for preparing women for life,” AFP reports.

Emine Erdogan’s comments come a day after the president triggered protests by saying he believed that “a woman is above all a mother” in a speech marking International Women’s Day.

Critics have accused Erdogan’s government of trying to impose strict Islamic values on Turkey and curtailing women’s civil liberties.

“The harem was a school for members of the Ottoman dynasty and an educational establishment for preparing women for life,” Emine Erdogan said at an official event on the Ottoman sultans in Ankara, according to Turkish TV stations.

President Erdogan has come under fire in the past for urging Turkish women to have at least three children and railing against efforts to promote birth control as “treason”.

He and his wife regularly speak of their attachment to Islamic principles and the values of the old Ottoman empire, from the ruins of which the modern Turkish state was founded in 1923.

Buckingham Palace has complained to the press watchdog over the Sun newspaper’s article claiming the Queen backed “Brexit” from the European Union, the BBC reports.

The Sun quotes anonymous sources, one of whom claims to have witnessed a “bust-up” between the Queen and pro-EU former Deputy PM Nick Clegg in 2011.

It says the Queen told Mr Clegg the EU was “heading in the wrong direction”.

Earlier, the palace insisted the Queen was “politically neutral”. Mr Clegg called the story “nonsense”.

Under the headline, “Queen backs Brexit”, the Sun said the Queen’s exchange with Mr Clegg at a lunch in 2011 left “no room for doubt about her passionate feelings over Europe”.

The paper says the Queen also revealed her feelings about Europe during a separate conversation with MPs at Buckingham Palace “a few years ago”.

 

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been voted Player of Matchday 23. Users of Bundesliga’s official website chose the midfielder from Borussia Dortmund as best actor in the nine games last weekend after his strong performance against Hoffenheim.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored the equalizer and provided an assist in Dortmund’s 3:1 win.  With his ninth goal of the season, he hit his personal season record in the league (2013/14).

Every time the Armenian has scored in the Bundesliga, Dortmund has won.

Adele has been crowned Queen of the Brits, winning four prizes including best British female and best album, the BBC reports.

“To come back after so long away and be so warmly received means so much,” she said.

The star, who closed the show by performing When We Were Young, also received best British single and the Global Success award.

Adele has been crowned Queen of the Brits, winning four prizes including best British female and best album.

“To come back after so long away and be so warmly received means so much,” she said.

The star, who closed the show by performing When We Were Young, also received best British single and the Global Success award.

Oldman then accepted a Brits icon award on behalf of the singer and his family.

“David you were mortal, but your potential was superhuman,” he said, “and your music lives on”.

Bowie’s band then performed a medley of his hits, before New Zealand singer Lorde joined them to sing Life On Mars.

The ceremony was opened by Coldplay, who gave a colourful, floral performance of their single Hymn For The Weekend, showering the audience with confetti petals as they played on one of two separate stages at London’s O2 arena.

They went on to win best British group – making them the most successful band in the ceremony’s history.

Chris Martin and co now have nine trophies to their name, although the figure pales in comparison to Robbie Williams’ 17 awards (12 as a solo artist and five with Take That).

Other awards went to James Bay, for best male, and Australian psych-rock band Tame Impala, who picked up best international group.

Canadian singer Justin Bieber, who performed his chart topping singles Love Yourself and Sorry, won best international male.

One Direction, who are officially on hiatus, also picked up best video for the space-themed Drag Me Down.

Ethnic Armenian member of the Georgian parliament Samvel Petrosyan criticized some of his colleagues on Wednesday for voting for a controversial Council of Europe resolution regarding access to water in Nagorno-Karabakh, reports.

The at the Council of Europe parliamentary Assembly on January 26  asserts that “inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water”. 98 MPs voted for it, 71 against, and 40 abstained.

Georgian MPs Tedo Japaridze, Irakli Chikovani and Giorgi Kandelaki voted for the resolution.

At a plenary session of parliament, Petrosyan called the resolution biased and said people in the community he represents, the southern town Akhalkalaki, were astonished by the way the Georgian delegates voted.

“Despite the anti-Armenian views of certain politicians, I am confident that brotherly ties between the Georgian and Armenian nations will deepen and develop in the future.”

Head of Georgian Dream’s faction Giorgi Volsky called Petrosyan’s statement ‘populist’ and said the Georgian delegation to PACE did not do anything to cause tension in Georgia’s neighborhood.

“The closer we get to the election the more populist statements there will be. Georgia is our common country for Georgians, Armenians and Azeri. Let’s keep stability in this state,” he said, adding that the energy supply problem has gotten worse and needs to be solved.

Armenia will host Belarus in a friendly scheduled for March 25, the Armenian Football Federation (FFA) reports, quoting the FFA Competitions Organizing committee.

The match will be played at Republican stadium after Vazgen Sargsyan in Yerevan. The kick-off is at 19:00.

Markar Eseyan, a Turkish MP of Armenian descent, in favor of a biased anti-Armenian report on “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan” debated today at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Eseyan, who was elected to the Turkish Parliament in November 2015, represents the ruling Justice and Development Party.

With a vote of 66 to 70 and 45 abstentions, the Parliamentary Assembly rejected the report on “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan” presented by British MP Robert Walter.

The sixteenth meeting of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC), composed of members of the European and the Armenian parliaments, was held in Strasbourg. At the end of the two-day debates a joint Final Statement and Recommendations were adopted.

EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee , Sixteenth Meeting

20/21 January 2016, Strasbourg

Final Statement and Recommendations

Pursuant to Article 83 of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement

The Parliamentary Cooperation Committee

1. 1.         welcomes the high-level opening of EU-Armenia negotiations on 7 December 2015, in view of a new comprehensive framework agreement that would cover political, economic and sectoral cooperation; recalls that the PCC had already recommended, on 20 March 2015, to use the experience acquired in the scoping exercise to establish a legally binding contractual basis in order to replace the outdated 1999 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement;
2. recalling the work carried out in negotiating the AA/DCFTA trusts that the technical result of these talks, which was safeguarded for future reference at the time, will facilitate the swift completion of the EU / Armenia negotiations which are now re-launched;
3. expects to see firmly enshrined in the new agreement a strong commitment to rule of law, democracy and human rights, which should be cornerstones of the text; further underlines that the respect for these shared values can only enhance and further facilitate cooperation in all other issues expected to be covered by the agreement, from energy, transport, or the environment to investment and trade; reminds that Armenia remains covered by the preferential GSP+ trade scheme, with an enhanced role played by the EP in its reformed monitoring procedure;
4. believes that a new, ambitious EU/Armenia framework agreement is compatible with the progressive differentiation approach promoted within the Eastern Partnership, particularly taking into account the revised European Neighbourhood Policy; reminds that enhancing citizens mobility in a secure and well managed environment remains a core objective of the Eastern Partnership, and welcomes the overall good implementation by Armenia of the Visa facilitation and Readmission Agreements, stressing that continued and sustained progress is crucial in order to further proceed with a Visa Liberalisation Dialogue;
5. underlines the need for a strong parliamentary dimension to be included in any future agreement, encouraging legislators to develop procedures allowing them to be duly informed throughout the negotiation process, and fully involved in its subsequent implementation and monitoring;
6. recalls the outmost importance and value of the annual EU-Armenia Human Rights Dialogue, as a unique format allowing to constructively focus on issues such as fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of assembly and association, the development of civil society, the rule of law, mobility, judicial reform, the continued fight against corruption, the independence of the media and the fight against torture and inhuman and degrading treatment;
7. welcomes the considerable effort recently undertaken by the Armenian National Assembly to align national legislation with the UN Convention Against Torture and looks forward to further progress on the ancillary measures currently under examination to avoid torture and fight impunity; further welcomes the review of the Judicial Code and the strengthening of the independence of the judiciary provided by the Constitutional Amendments as supported by the Venice Commission, particularly the Council of Justice; stresses the importance the EU attaches to ICC ratification worldwide;
8. takes note of the 6 December Constitutional Referendum results, recalling the first and the second opinions delivered by the Venice Commission on the draft Amendments to the Constitution, and the local EU Statement issued on 10 December 2015 which urged the authorities to fully investigate in a transparent manner the election fraud allegations;
9. underlines that the full implementation of existing recommendations already issued by previous OSCE/ODIHR election observation missions remains a key to increase the confidence in the integrity of the electoral process, and expects that the necessary amendments, particularly pertaining to the electoral code, will be adopted well before the 2017 general elections;
10. recognizes that the EU’s support over the years has been instrumental for the effective implementation and sustainability of Armenia’s reform process and institutional capacity building; thus welcomes the EU adopting, on 16 December 2015, a new support programme of €30 million to enhance further efforts in the areas of quality employment, fiscal governance and civil society participation in the democratic decision making process; notes the decisive role civil society can play in enhancing transparency and accountability in all fields of public life, but also in monitoring GSP+ implementation, through dedicated EDIHR-funded projects; supports and encourages Armenian full participation in the COSME and Horizon 2020 programmes ;
11. deeply regrets the continued -and rising-human cost of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the increasingly serious violations of the cease-fire agreement, including by the use of heavy artillery/mortars, which repeatedly led to the loss of life even amongst the civilian population; stresses there can be no justification for the death and injury of innocent civilians on all sides, supporting the creation of a mechanism to investigate ceasefire violations, as repeatedly called for by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs; reminds that the Minsk Group Co-Chairs noted on 26 September that Armenia has agreed to discuss the details of this mechanism, urging Azerbaijan to do the same;expects from the EU to play a more active role in supporting further confidence building measures to spread the ideas of peace, reconciliation and trust;
12. believes that the recent escalation proves beyond possible doubt that the status quo has become unsustainable and that th ere can be no alternative to a peaceful solution in accordance with the UN Charter, Helsinki Final Act and relevant principles of international law;
13. firmly supports the negotiation process under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as the only internationally agreed format for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in this regard, strongly encouragespan-European and other international institutions and bodies to align with the OSCE Minsk group co-chairs statements in their motions and resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh in order to contribute to the peaceful resolution of the conflict; calls for a greater political commitment from all parties involved; calls on the European Union to include in its exchange and mobility programmes students and teachers hailing from conflict areas, such as Nagorno-Karabakh, as outlined in the Bologna Process communiqué of May 2015adopted also by all EU member states and the European Commission;
14. welcomes the steps taken by the Government of Armenia in accepting around 20,000 Syrian refugees and callson the European Commission and the EU member states to consider in a positive light any support request from the Armenian authorities in carrying out relevant programmes aimed at the further social integration of the Syrian refugees in Armenia.
15. recalls the commemorations of the Centennial o
    f the Armenian Genocide which took place in Yerevan in April 2015, and commends the participating EU institutions and their Office-Holders ; encourages all Member States and EU Institutions to contribute further to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, noting that the issue has, in recent years, become the focus of open and public debate in Turkey itself;
16. echoes the call of the EP Plenary, which, on 10 June 2015, urged the normalisation of Armenia – Turkey relations by the ratification, without preconditions, of the protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations, and by the opening of the unilaterally closed border; supports initiatives aimed at promotion of regional cooperation, in the belief they can contribute to the ending of isolation of any country in the region; strongly hopes such developments will help to overcome the legacy of the past and face it courageously.

Relative peace was maintained at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan last night.

The rival mostly used artillery weapons in different directions of the line of contact, the NKR Ministry of Defense reported.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep full control of the situation all along the line of contact.

Georgia is taking measures for the sake of safeguarding the country’s natural gas supply, reports.

Today Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze met the Director General of SOCAR Energy Georgia, Mahir Mammedov, in Tbilisi to discuss the possible ways for avoiding natural gas supply deficit.

After the meeting Kaladze told journalists that this year Azerbaijan could not fill the gas supply deficit in Georgia. Kaladze warned the supplies of Azerbaijan’s natural gas will soon be insufficient to cover Georgia’s needs.

In order to solve the gas supply deficit problem the sides discussed several projects that would ensure increasing the Azerbaijani gas supply in Georgia.

One of the projects discussed during the meeting was construction of an underground natural gas storage facility. Kaladze said SOCAR expressed interest to participate in this project. Georgia was going to start construction works in 2016.

Another project was about increasing the existing capacity of SOCAR gas transit.

It will be very important for our country to implement this project [underground natural gas storage facility] in order to solve country’s natural gas supply problem. SOCAR’s both natural gas pipelines operate at full capacity. In the future we plan to implement such project that will ensure us to increase the capacity of gas transit,” Kaladze said.

Another project the sides discussed in order to avoid the natural gas supply deficit in Georgia was Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian Sea, offshore from Azerbaijan, that opens Europe for Azerbaijani gas.

Kaladze said the second stage of the project would be completed by 2019. $400-700 million USD will be invested in Georgia in the framework of construction for the second stage of development of the Shah Deniz project.

Kaladze said Shah Deniz project would enable Georgia to enjoy additional supply of natural gas.

“At the meeting we have discussed the technical problems that we face during the winter. There are some periods when gas consumption reaches its peak level. And especially in winter when we used to balance the gas supply deficit with Russian gas. I want to say once again that Georgia and Azerbaijan are strategic partner. We will continue cooperation in the future,” Kaladze said.

The Energy Minister explained technically it was impossible to receive additional supply of gas from Azerbaijan this year. However after implementing the above mentioned projects Georgia would overcome the natural gas supply deficit challenge.

Earlier this week Kaladze explained extra gas supplies from Russia and Iran could be necessary only in a transition period until Azerbaijan’s Shah-Deniz field begins having an impact in 2019.