Author: Lilit Nahapetian

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian participated in the OSCE Informal Ministerial Meeting in Potsdam. Minister Nalbandian’s full speech is provided below:

I would like to thank Minister Steinmeier for this important initiative to exchange views in preparation for the OSCE Ministerial Council in coming December, to deploy efforts to make Hamburg meeting joint success.

Indeed, success is not merely measured by the number of adopted decisions, but the quality of our dialogue.

It is evident that any challenge in the OSCE area needs to be dealt through dialogue. We can debate endlessly the essence and scope of the OSCE principles and commitments, which should shape this dialogue. However, if we do not agree on one basic principle then apparently all our efforts will be in vain. The non-use of force or threat of use force constitutes that very principle. Unconditional adherence to non-use of force is essential for any security related endeavor in the OSCE area.

The April preplanned large-scale military offensive of Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh, accompanied by atrocities and gross violations of the international humanitarian law was not merely another escalation of this conflict. It was a challenge to common security and stability of the OSCE area. It seriously threw back the process of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution.

Such attempts of using force as an instrument of pressure on the negotiating process, if not adequately addressed, may pave the way for serious destabilization with unpredictable consequences for entire region. To restore the trust in the process of the conflict resolution, measures should be taken to prevent use of force and create conditions conducive for the advancement of the peace process.

This was the main aim of the two Summits on Nagorno-Karabakh held in Vienna in May and in St. Petersburg in June. First of all, it is a necessity to implement what was particularly emphasized and agreed upon in the framework of these Summits – the full adherence to the 1994-1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements, which do not have time limitations, the creation of mechanism for investigation of ceasefire violations, the expansion of the capacity of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

Conflicts in the OSCE area are not identical when it comes to principles upon which they should be resolved. Each and every conflict has its own features and should be approached based on its specificities. There is one common principle that should be pushed in all conflict situations and that is non-use of force.

«Either our way or the war» approach is a dead-end. This type of language was used in the OSCE by Azerbaijani diplomats who, ignoring the approaches expressed in five statements of the presidents of the Co-Chair countries on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution, are trying to present their own perceptions or interpretations as the only peaceful way of the settlement. When even diplomats talk in such a language then the problem goes far beyond a mere lack of a good will.

The rights of people residing in the conflict areas need to be put in the heart of both crisis management and conflict resolution. The recognition and the realization of the right to self-determination of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh is essential in any substantive progress within this conflict settlement.

Dear Colleagues,

Effective arms control regime and its full implementation are crucial in ensuring practical application of the principle of non-use of force or threat of force.

We read with great interest the August 26 article of the Chairman-in-office containing a proposal to re-launch the arms control. Armenia has always been supporter of improved cooperative security arrangements aimed at enhanced transparency and predictability in the OSCE area based on the principles of restraint and risk reduction. It is in this vein that Armenia is going to engage in the discussions regarding the future of arms control in Europe. The uncontrolled and skyrocketing accumulation of offensive weaponry should be prevented.

We appreciate efforts aimed at updating the Vienna Document. But, we need also to employ more efforts to ensure the implementation of the current Vienna Document and OSCE commitments related to the arms control. We saw repetitive violations of essential provisions of the Document including those related to notification of military exercises and verification.

Dear Colleagues,
We have consistently highlighted protection of rights of people living in the conflict areas, enhancing OSCE capacities first and foremost in the conflict related field missions, strengthening confidence building measures in all three dimensions. Full implementation of commitments related to conflict cycle particularly the Vilnius decision should come first in this regard.

In conclusion I would like to stress that Armenia will continue its support to the German Chairmanship in preparation of the Hamburg Ministerial Council.

Thank you.

A hotiline has been opened at the Armenian Embassy in Italy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

Those affected by the devastating earthquake that struck central Italy on Tuesday can call +390687788654 for assistance.

The death toll in the Italian earthquake has risen to at least 247 as thousands of rescuers continue efforts to find survivors.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been pictured for the first time in training with Manchester United.

The Red Devils have been in training for around a week but no official images had been released by the club until now.

United face Wigan on Saturday in their first match of pre-season.

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take part in a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Yerevan on July 4, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharov said on Tuesday, reports.

“The ministers will discuss current problems of international and regional security, cooperation on the international arena,” she said.

The CSTO top diplomats will also exchange views on “combating terrorism and extremism in the light of the situation in the Middle East and Afghanistan,” she said.

Moscow “hopes the Yerevan meeting will make a major contribution to the implementation of agreements reached at the top level,” Zakharova said.

Photo: AP

 

Microsoft has agreed to pay a Californian woman $10,000 (£7,500) after an automatic Windows 10 update left her computer unusable.

Teri Goldstein said her Windows 7 computer had automatically tried to update itself to Windows 10 without her permission.

She said the update had made her machine unstable, leaving her unable to use it to run her business.

Microsoft said it had dropped its appeal to save on legal costs.

Microsoft has been aggressively pushing the latest version of its widely used operating system, which is currently available as a free download for computers running Windows 7 and 8.

However, many people have chosen not to upgrade, because they are running old hardware, have software that does not run on Windows 10, are concerned over the software’s tracking features, or simply do not want it.

Photo: Karen Minasyan (AFP)

 

AFP – When a bomb destroyed his workshop in war-ravaged Syria, silversmith Levon Keoshkerian followed other Armenians heading with a heavy heart for their ancestral home in the Caucasus.

He now lives with his elderly mother in Yerevan, where he goes every morning to the outdoor flea market to sell the silver ornaments he rescued as he fled the divided city of Aleppo.

“All my life I worked to preserve and develop the ancient craft of Armenian silversmiths,” said Keoshkerian, 47, who came to the Armenian capital in 2015.

“Now I have returned to the blessed land where the tradition was born.”

His silver plates, chalices and jugs were crafted in Syria, but they are decorated with traditional Armenian motifs: birds, grapes and pomegranates.

Keoshkerian and his elderly mother are among some 18,000 members of the Syrian Armenian community who have resettled here since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011.

“For a long time we didn’t want to abandon our house and flee. We kept hoping that life would go back to normal,” Keoshkerian said.

“But after a bomb fell right on my workshop, we understood that we could not wait any longer.”

The craftsman drove his mother through Turkey and Georgia to Armenia, braving a difficult journey after Islamist fighters in Aleppo forbade him from selling silverware embellished with pictures of animals.

“Our trip to Armenia was no safer than living under constant bombing in Aleppo,” Keoshkerian recalls, citing shelling on roads, militia attacks on buses and harassment by Turkish border guards.

“But finally, my mother and I found safety here in Armenia, where we must start a new life from scratch.”

When war broke out in Syria, it was home to a small community of 60,000 to 100,000 Armenian Christians, many of whom lived in Aleppo.

Syrian Armenians were “long-established and law-abiding Syrian citizens — wealthy merchants, craftsmen, doctors,” said Firdus Zakaryan, head of an Armenian diaspora ministry commission overseeing the recent arrivals’ integration.

“They preserved the Armenian language and traditions, which helped them adapt to a new life in Armenia,” he said.

The Armenians are a small part of the tide of people fleeing Syria’s war in one of the worst refugee crises in modern history.

Almost half of the country’s population of nearly 25 million have been displaced, and four million people fled to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Europe.

Home to three million people, the ex-Soviet republic of Armenia has become home to the world’s third-highest refugee population per capita, according to the UN refugee agency.

But Syrian Armenians fleeing war today mourn the fact that their ancestors were themselves survivors of the Ottoman Turkish massacres during World War I — meaning their community has suffered displacement twice in just a century.

Armenian authorities have taken measures to make it easier for Syrians of Armenian descent to seek shelter here, including a visa waiver, but the impoverished country is struggling to cope.

“The government has simplified the naturalisation process, covered their health insurance costs, allocated educational funds and even subsidised housing until at least one family member finds a job,” Zakaryan said.

“But our small country can’t shoulder the burden alone, we need international financial assistance.”

The UN refugee agency is helping Armenia establish a microcredit scheme to help refugees set up businesses.

“We run courses to familiarise Syrian refugees with Armenian laws and tax regulations and provide those who plan to set up a small business with working tools and equipment,” UNHCR coordinator Anahit Hayrapetian said.

In a sign the community is eager to integrate, many Syrian Armenians have opened car service stations, bakeries and tailors’ shops in Yerevan and other cities, Hayrapetian said.

“Dozens of new Syrian restaurants and cafes have transformed Yerevan’s culinary scene,” she added.

Salbi Jabakhchuryan and her son Kaits who came from Aleppo in 2012 run one of Yerevan’s most popular restaurants, located right in front of the seat of government.

While their mastery of Armenian cuisine has been key to their success, they have had to tone down some of their recipes to adapt to local tastes.

“In our two restaurants in Aleppo, we used to cook hot and spicy dishes, but Armenians prefer milder food,” said Kaits, 28, pulling a freshly baked lahmajoon — a thin, crusty bread topped with ground meat — out of the oven.

“So, we adjusted,” he shrugged.

“In Syria we lived a hundred times better than here, we were respected, but here it is safe and nobody will hurt you just because you are Armenian,” his mother said.

“When we left Aleppo, we shut the doors of our house, but we kept the keys — just as our ancestors had when they fled Turkey during the Armenian genocide in 1915.”

Photo: AFP

 

A man claiming allegiance to so-called Islamic State (IS) stabbed a French policeman to death before being killed when police stormed a house, in what officials say was a “terrorist act,” the BBC reports.

The attacker took the officer’s partner and their son hostage in their home in Magnanville, near Paris.

The partner was found dead but the child was rescued.

French media say the attacker had been sentenced in 2013 for involvement with jihadist groups with links to Pakistan.

Unnamed sources identified him as 25-year-old Larossi Abballa, who lived in nearby Mantes-La-Jolie and was convicted for “criminal association with the aim of preparing terrorist acts”.

He was sentenced to a three-year term, with six months suspended, they said.

Islamic State’s Amaq news agency said an IS “fighter” carried out the attack.

Armenia welcomes the adoption of the resolution by the German Bundestag  on recognition of the Genocide committed against Armenians and other Christian peoples.

“German President Joachim Gauck’s statement on the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, along with this Bundestag resolution, is a valuable contribution not only to the process of international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian genocide but also to the fight for prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in a statement.

“Germany and Austria, two former allies of the Ottoman Empire acknowledge their share of responsibility in the perpetration of the Armenian Genocide, while the Turkish authorities keep denying the obvious fact of the genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire,” Minister Nalbandian said.

“The international community has been waiting for Turkey to face its history for 101 years,” the Foreign Minister said.

Since May 10, dozens of civil engineers and structural craftsmen based at the Robins Air Force Base in the U.S. state of Georgia have been working on important renovations at Yerevan Elderly Institute #1, improving the safety and conditions of 12 residential suites and the common area of the institute.

These members of the 116^th Civil Engineer Squadron of the Georgia Air National Guard came to Armenia as part of the U.S. military’s Humanitarian Civic Assistance Program. The military engineers replaced the flooring of the institute, making the entire facility safer for the elderly who rely on it. They also repaired bathrooms in the building, worked on sewage lines and electrical wiring, and replaced and refinished many walls. The renovation provided crucial skill-set training for the engineers, who were able to practice their skills in real-world settings. At the same time, the renovation continues the long-lasting friendship between the Armenian people and the citizens of the United States.

“We will be grateful for many years for the work you have done here,” said Khachik Sargsyan, director of Yerevan Elderly Institution No. 1. “The work carried out here will help our residents with hot water and heating and provide a safe and cleaning living environment.”

“These members of the Georgia Air National Guard represent some of the best of the best in the U.S. military, and now they have a personal understanding of the Armenian people that they can carry with them as they return home,” said U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills, Jr., who was joined at a ribbon cutting for the renovated facility on Wednesday, May 25, 2016, by the Armenian Minister of Labor and Social Issues Artem Asatryan.

This is the third year the U.S. European Command’s Humanitarian Civic Assistance Program has been active in Armenia.

“Through efforts such as this renovation, in partnership with the Armenian government and civil society, we at the Embassy are working to improve the lives of the Armenian people and help this historic nation have the secure, peaceful, and prosperous future it deserves,” Ambassador Mills said.

Excavation work for a new metro line in Rome has unearthed a huge Roman barracks from the 2nd Century AD when Emperor Hadrian was in power, the BBC reports.

The find is so impressive that Italy plans to create Rome’s first “archaeological station” at Amba Aradam, on the city’s third metro line.

The new station is being built while archaeologists brush dirt away from artefacts and mosaics 9m (30ft) below street level. The ruins cover 900sq m.

The site, thought to have housed Hadrian’s Praetorian Guard, includes a 100m hallway with 39 rooms.

An Italian Culture Ministry official called the unearthing of the Roman Praetorian Guard barracks “exceptional”.

The Praetorian Guard was created by Rome’s first emperor, Augustus, and served as the emperors’ bodyguards and private military force.