Author: Markos Nalchajian

The x ranks Armenia 67th among 133 countries in the world.

The Index is produced by the U.S.-based nonprofit Social Progress Imperative, and is based on the work of leading economists.

It measures how well countries perform delivering social goods to their people, including education, health and wellness, housing, opportunity, personal rights, personal safety and tolerance. It compiles its scores based on more than 50 indicators.

Finland tops the ranking followed by Canada and Denmark.

In the Basic Human Needs Dimension, Armenia performs best on Water and Sanitation and has most opportunity to improve on the Personal Safety component. In the Foundations of Wellbeing Dimension, Armenia scores highest on Access to Basic Knowledge but lags on the Health and Wellness component. In the Opportunity Dimension, Armenia is strongest on Personal Freedom and Choice and has the most room to improve on Personal Rights.

Armenia’s neighbors in the region are placed as follows: Georgia 54th, Turkey – 58th, Azerbaijan 77th, Iran – 93rd.

Armenia’s partners in the Eurasian Economic union Belarus and Russia are placed 66th and 75th respectively, Kazakhstan is 76th, Kyrgyzstan is 79th.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has called the Russia-mediated meeting with Azerbaijani President as useful for easing tensions in the long-running Karabakh conflict.

“The trilateral meetings play a positive role,” President Sargsyan said in an interview with .

“Of course, the situation at the conflict zone is much calmer than three, five or six months and even a year ago. The Azerbaijani forces keep shooting from time to time, but mostly use weapons of small calibers,” the President said.

Serzh Sargsyan said in St. Petersburg the parties agreed to strengthen the monitoring of the ceasefire regime, develop a mechanism of investigation of incidents in the conflict zone under the auspices of the OSCE.

“We also agreed to continue the meetings in trilateral format. The negotiation process under the aegis of the OSCE Minsk Group will also continue,” he added.

We are proud and grateful for the Pope’s visit to Armenia and his attitude, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with Vatican Radio ahead of the Pontiff’s visit.

“For years he has expressed his warm attitude and respect for the nation, which was the first to adopt Christianity as state religion, and as we, Armenians, understand, this comes from his beliefs, from his heart,” the President said.

Speaking about the expectations from the visit, President Sargsyan said: “Fifteen years ago Pope John Paul’s visit to Armenia was dedicated to the 1700^th anniversary of adoption of Christianity. Pope Francis’ visit is dedicated to another important jubilee – the 25^th anniversary of Armenia’s independence.”

“The relations between Armenia and Vatican have always been remarkable for the high-level political dialogue, because the relations are based on similar Christian values, common historical heritage and principles and similar approaches towards issue of the contemporary world, which are hard to solve,” President Sargsyan said.

He added that the relations further deepened after the opening of the Armenian Embassy at the Vatican and the Holy Mass the Pontiff celebrated on the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The President also attached importance to the proclamation of Gregory of Narek as ‘doctor of church.’

Speaking about the Karabakh issue, President Sargsyan said “our position is clear.” “The Karabakh conflict should be solved exceptionally in a peaceful way. Before the April events we were speaking about mutual concessions, today it’s hard for people to understand that speaking about concessions is possible with a country, which violates its international commitments. I’m confident, however, that we’ll find the best solution to the Karabakh issue, the best for the people of Nagorno Karabakh, not for Azerbaijan or Armenia,” President Sargsyan said.

Photo: Getty Images

 

Turkey is discussing “countermeasures” against Germany after its lawmakers voted to label the 1915 mass killings of Armenians an act of genocide, a Turkish official said on Wednesday, adding Berlin should distance itself from the resolution, Reuters reports.

The official, who was speaking to members of the foreign media in Istanbul, also said that discussions with the European Union to resolve an impasse over visa-free travel for Turks to the bloc were “on the right track”.

German lawmakers this month overwhelmingly voted to endorse the resolution, infuriating Turkey.

“Countermeasures are being discussed,” the official said, declining to be identified. He did not give any details about what kind of measures Ankara could take.

On 24 May Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received French National Assembly deputy, chairman of the France-Artsakh friendship circle François Rochebloine and head of the France-Armenia Parliamentary friendship group René Rouquet, NKR President’s Press Office reports.

Issues related to developing ties between the Artsakh and French parliaments, public and political circles were discussed at the meeting.

The Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement and regional developments were discussed.

President Sahakyan expressed gratitude to the guests for the activity aimed at deepening friendly relations between the two countries and peoples, qualifying it as an exemplary manifestation of sincere friendship and humanism.

NKR National Assembly vice-chairman Vahram Balayan and other officials partook in the meeting.

Borussia Dortmund’s Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan was named the footballer of the Bundesliga 2015-16, according to a poll conducted by German magazine Kicker.

Mkhitaryan topped the list with 31.1 percent of the votes, followed by Bayern Munich’s Polish striker Robert Lewandowski with 22.1 percent, reports Efe.

Bayern’s Thomas Muller came third with 13.6 percent, ahead of Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with 13.2 percent.

The best goalkeeper of the season was Bayern’s Manuel Neuer with 23.8 percent, followed by Mainz’s Loris Karius with 13.6 percent and Bayer Leverkusen’s Bernd Leno with 12.8 percent.

Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS

    The lower house of the Tajik parliament has unanimously approved on Friday the amendments to the country’s current Constitution enshrining Emomali Rahmon’s right to be president for life,  reports.

These amendments will take effect after being reviewed by the Constitutional Court and popular support at the referendum whose date will be determined later.

According to the new wording of Article 66 of the country’s Constitution, “a person at least 30 years old who has a command of the state language and who has lived in the country for at least 10 past years can be nominated for the post of Tajikistan’s president.” Lawmaker Mahmadali Vatanzoda noted that it was planned to supplement this article with the following content: “The restrictions envisaged in this article do not apply to the founder of “peace and national unity – leader of the nation.” This legal status was conferred on incumbent President Emomali Rahmon by parliamentarians on December 9, 2015.

Among other significant amendments to Tajikistan’s Constitution are a ban on religious and nationalist political parties and associations and the abolition of the Council of Justice. The activity of foreign political parties is banned as well. The Constitution enshrines the presidential form of government, which has actually been in force since 1994. All these amendments will take effect after a national referendum.

Emomali Rahmon has been the head of state since 1992.

 

 

 

“The issue of 800 hectares of land lost during the April war will probably be on the agenda of negotiations,” Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan told reporters on the sidelines of the unveiling of a statue to Marshal Hamazasp Babajanyan.

“We’ll never forget those territories just like we never forget our historic lands, ” the Minister said.

“The territories are within the borders of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and I think the issue will be raised during the talks,” he added.

Minister Ohanyan said the situation at the Karabakh conflict zone is currently calm. “We keep in touch with the NKR Defense Army. We try to observe the ceasefire, divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep the situation under control,” he noted.

By Sen. Mark Kirk

The time has come for Azerbaijan to face consequences from the United States and the international community for its blatant military aggression against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).

After years of saber rattling, Azerbaijan’s four-day assault on the NKR earlier this month is its most egregious attack since it signed a cease-fire agreement with Armenia and the NKR in 1994. These recent military actions indicate the clear need for new measures to modify a cease-fire framework that is not working.

With no system to referee the cease-fire, Azerbaijan has become increasingly belligerent while facing no consequences for its violations. This must change.

I strongly support a congressional response, spearheaded by Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and ranking member Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, that offers three pro-peace measures to bring needed oversight to a cease-fire that has been precariously self-regulated by Armenian and Azerbaijani forces for more than two decades.

First, all sides should agree not to deploy snipers along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact.

Second, advanced gunfire locator systems and sound ranging equipment, monitored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), should be installed along the line of contact to verify the source of any attacks.

And third, additional OSCE observers should be deployed along the line of contact to more effectively monitor cease-fire violations. There are only six OSCE observers monitoring the conflict zone — woefully insufficient given the number of cease-fire violations each day.

More than 80 members of the House of Representatives have signed the bipartisan Royce-Engel proposals, which have also been supported by the U.S. State Department and the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group.

In order for a lasting peace to be established, there must be goodwill and trust on both sides. But, while both Armenia and the NKR have affirmed their support for these peace-building measures, Azerbaijan has not. In truth, the lack of oversight on the current cease-fire framework provides useful cover for Azerbaijan’s belligerence.

U.S leadership is needed now to stop the bloody pattern in which Azerbaijan attacks the NKR, the NKR responds, and then Azerbaijan blames the Armenians for violating the cease-fire. We should no longer accept Baku’s flagrant duplicity.

I call upon the administration to raise the Royce-Engel proposals to the highest levels of the Azerbaijani government.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has faced a chorus of international criticism for human rights abuses, such as the wrongful imprisonment of Radio Free Europe journalist Khadija Ismayilova and some 20 others who have been prosecuted on politically motivated charges, according to Human Rights Watch.

Just as the international community has come together to hold the Baku government responsible for its transgressions against civil society in Azerbaijan, so too should we call it to account for its treatment of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The OSCE’s Minsk Process, which started in 1995 to bring the parties of the conflict to a peaceful and comprehensive settlement, is hanging on by a thread. If diplomacy is to endure, there must be a verifiable cease-fire in place.

The onus is on Azerbaijan to demonstrate to the U.S. and the international community that it truly wants to be a partner in peace with Armenia and the NKR. Baku must fully commit to the Royce-Engel proposals.

The choice for President Aliyev is clear: Either he subscribes to diplomatic negotiations with the Armenians under peaceful circumstances or continues with a belligerent and futile policy of attrition.

If he chooses the latter, he should know that every act of Azerbaijani aggression will only further validate the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s argument that it go the way of Kosovo. As a veteran of the Kosovo War, I truly hope Azerbaijan realizes that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should only be resolved through peaceful means.

Kirk has represented Illinois in the U.S. Senate since 2010 and was previously a five-term U.S. representative from the northern Chicago suburbs.

Photo: Reuters

 

Ukraine is holding commemorations to mark the 30th anniversary of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, the BBC reports.

Sirens were sounded at the same moment as the first explosion at the reactor, in the early hours of 26 April 1986.

The meltdown at the plant remains the worst nuclear disaster in history.

An uncontrolled reaction blew the roof off, spewing out a cloud of radioactive material which drifted across Ukraine’s borders, into Russia, Belarus and across a swathe of northern Europe.

The relatives of those who died attended candle-lit vigils at several churches, including in the capital Kiev and in Slavutych, a town built to re-house workers who lived near the nuclear plant.