Author: Maral Chavushian

Lawmakers who took a trip secretly funded by the government of Azerbaijan turned over jade earrings, tea sets, silk scarves, woven rugs and other gifts to the government after a watchdog report called the trip improper, reports.

The list of gifts returned to the General Services Administration (GSA), which was obtained by The Hill through a Freedom of Information Act request, fills in more details about the trip to a 2013 conference in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku.

In all, nine current member of Congress and 32 staff members attended the conference, each receiving thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts, according to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). Some of the lawmakers also went to Turkey after the conference in Baku and received additional gifts on that stop.

The OCE report on the trip was submitted to the House Ethics Committee on May 8, 2015, but was leaked to The Washington Post, which revealed the details of the report days later.

The watchdog said Texas-based nonprofits filed false statements saying they were paying for the trip, when, in reality, the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic, known as Socar, helped fund the conference and trips by funneling $750,000 to the nonprofit corporations.

Starting from July 15, 2016 Ukraine International Airlines will be operating 14 flights a week instead of current 7 on the direction Kyiv-Yerevan-Kyiv, Press Service of the Armenia International Airports CJSC reports.

This destination has recently started to become more popular especially for passengers, who have chosen Europe as their final destination.

On 15 June Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan met with first deputy head of the General Staff of the Republic of Armenia’s Armed forces, lieutenant-general Enrico Apryamov and RA deputy defense minister David Pakhchanyan.

The meeting addressed issues related to army building and cooperation between the two Armenian states in this sphere.

Artsakh Republic defense minister, lieutenant-general Levon Mnatsakanyan partook at the talks.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cut short a trip on June 9 to the United States, where he had gone to attend the funeral ceremony of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

According to information from presidential sources, however, Erdogan and other government representatives, decided to depart for Turkey without participating in the full funeral ceremony for the late boxer in Louisville, Kentucky.

The president participated in funeral prayers for Ali and also had a fast-breaking meal (iftar) with Meskhetian Turks.

Erdogan reportedly attempted to a put a piece of cloth from the Kaaba on Ali’s coffin during the funeral prayers but was refused permission to do so.

But according to another report, the president and Diyanet head Mehmet Görmez were rejected when they asked to read a piece from the Quran, which led the president to cut his program short.

Meanwhile, a short quarrel also erupted between U.S. secret service officials and Turkish presidential body guards, reportedly because a secret service official wanted to stand in the same place as presidential bodyguards as Erdogan was getting into his car.

Before arriving in the U.S., funeral organizers had removed Erdogan from the list of speakers on the grounds that there would not be sufficient time.

Former world heavyweight champion Ali, whose record-setting boxing career, flair for showmanship and political stands made him one of the best-known figures of the 20th century, died on June 3 aged 74.

He will be laid to rest on June 10.

President of teh Czech Republic Milos Zeman will ask the Government and Parliament to officially recognize the massacre of Armenians by Turks as genocide.

“I expressed my stance on the Armenian Genocide, when the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, was visiting Prague in 2014,” President Zeman said in an interview with .

The President said he will reiterate the position during his state visit to Armenia. “But more steps are needed, and after my talks in Armenia I’ll call on the Czech Government and Parliament to follow the example of the German Bundestag,” he stated.

The President recalled that the Armenian Genocide has been recognized not only by Germany, but also a number of other countries, including France, Russia, Poland, Slovakia, Italy and others.

President of eth Czech Republic Milos Zeman has arrived in Armenia for a two-day state visit today at the invitation of Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan.

“Integration unions can only succeed and develop in a secure environment. Security is the key basis for the development and prosperity of our states,” Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said, addressing the extended session of the Supreme Council of the Eurasian Economic Union.

“The fact that the countries forming the EEU are also members of the CSTO, an organization that aims to ensure comprehensive security in the region, is extremely important. The escalation of the situation at the Karabakh line of contact and the Armenian border by Azerbaijan in early April became a serious challenge to the security of the EEU region,” President Sargsyan said.

“The danger is obvious. The EEU will either be views by our foreign partners as a zone of economic development, stability and security, where one can make investments and initiate long-term programs, or everyone will get used to this complex situation and will be guided by the circumstance that there are hearths of permanent tension and split here. I don’t think the second scenario meets our interests,” the President added.

“Armenia cannot stay aside in case of aggressive actions against Nagorno Karabakh on the part of Azerbaijan. Of course, the self-defense forces of Nagorno Karabakh were quick to restore the situation, taking it under control. An important role here is reserved to Russia, which Azerbaijan addressed with a request to re-establish the ceasefire,” the President of Armenia stated.

Referring to the Vienna meeting mediated by the Minsk Group, President Sargsyan said “an agreement was reached on the confidence building measures, including the implementation of monitoring and investigation mechanisms.”

“Armenia intends to work consistently towards implementation of those agreements and continue to seek ways for a peaceful settlement, which should be primarily based on the right of the people of Nagorno Karabakh to self-determination. Armenia agrees with the Minsk Group Co-Chairs that this principle forms the basis of settlement, along with the principles of the use of force or the threat of force and territorial integrity,” President Sargsyan concluded.

The City of Geneva has authorized the construction of the “Lanterns of Memory” in the Trembley Park, reports.

Although the project was born a decade ago, the Armenian community received the permission to install the street lights in memory of the Armenian Genocide last week.

However, the fight is not yet over. Lawyer and SVP National Councilor Yves Nidegger has confirmed he will file an appeal against the authorization of the project at the request of 14 residents opposed to the construction works.

“The Trembley Park is a green area. Therefore, nothing can be built there, except possibly public interest facilities directly related to the use of the said area. This is not the case here since the applicant is a private association, pursuing private interests,” the lawyer says. The lawyer also highlights the scale of the project. “There are nine monumental candelabra nine meters high and ten meters in diameter. The impact on the park is huge and will change its character.”

Commenting on the decision, project coordinator Stefan Kristensen said he was “confident in the success of the process. This is an important step and we’re very satisfied.” He’s convinced that the motives behind the opposition to the project are primarily political. “It is painful and shocking to see people here to side with the deniers,” he said.

The course of the work was fraught with difficulties. Back in 2014 the Swiss Foreign Ministry recommended not erecting an Armenian genocide memorial in Ariana Park as originally planned.

No violations of the agreement on ceasefire were registered at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan last night, NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep the operational situation under control and take necessary steps to organize a reliable protection of the military positions.

German-Turkish film director Fatih Akin and other artists urge Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Bundestag to finally call the Armenian genocide as such, reports.

In an open letter the artists call “to take a stand on 2 June and to refer to the crimes committed against the Armenian people as “genocide.” This is more than a historical period, more than an apology to the descendants of the victims. “Imagine you lived in Germany and the Holocaust would be denied – would that not be a continuation of the actual fact?”

Among the signatories of the open letter are Markus Rindt, Head of the Dresden Symphony Orchestra, German-Turkish-Armenian composer and guitarist Marc Sinan director of Kampnagel theatre in Hamburg Amelie Deuflhardand the general director of the Saxon State Library, Thomas Bürger.

In the open letter to Merkel and the deputies the art workers write : “We therefore call on you today to stand by the fundamental European values and find the correct wording. The Armenian Genocide denial creates the basis for violence in the present. In 1915 the Armenians were called terrorists, their property was expropriated, only in 2015 more than 5,000 Kurds have been killed in Turkey because they are supposed to be terrorists. This became possible because Turkey systematically refuses to face its history.”

“The Bundestag and its predecessor institutions have been silent on the Armenian Genocide for 100 years now,” the artists say.

The Bundestag is set to vote on a cross-party bill on Armenian Genocide on June 2.

The European Commission will give conditional approval for Turks to travel without visas to Europe’s passport-free Schengen area, the BBC reports, quoting its sources.

The move is part of a deal in which Turkey is taking back migrants who have crossed over the Aegean Sea to Greece.

But Turkey must still meet EU criteria, and the deal must be approved by the European Parliament and member states.

The EU fears that without a visa deal, Turkey will not control migration.