Please find the attached press release of the Ministry of Diaspora. Sincerely, Media and PR Department (+374 10) 585601, internal 805
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news.am, Armenia Armenian official at PACE: Agramunt is a missioner, defender of Azerbaijan's interests 21:03, 27.06.2017 President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt is a missioner, that is the defender of Azerbaijan's interests, representative of the Armenian delegation to PACE, Deputy Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly (NA) Mikayel Melkumyan stated in his speech at the PACE plenary session on Tuesday. ''The fact that Agramunt is the defender of Azerbaijan's interests was also confirmed by the speech of the Azerbaijani delegation representative Samad Seyidov. Therefore, today's discussion is directly linked to Agramunt's conduct, which is unacceptable. But he is again absent. Thus, he should resign and leave,'' he noted. According to Melkumyan, the struggle against corruption should be measurable and visible, certain steps being taken by Armenia in this direction, particularly with regard to legislation and administration: the country has adopted laws on criminalization of unlawful enrichment and formation of a new anti-corruption body. ''I think the international community and the governments of different states should unite their forces for preventing this issue and its further overcoming. But how can one work effectively in that direction if, for instance, in a country like Azerbaijan the head of the state himself backs development of corruption, provoking aggressive military actions as it happened in April 2016 all along the Nagorno-Kaarbakh and Azerbaijani border. Materials have been published in a number of official periodicals and other media sources, including within the framework of Panama Papers, pursuant to which Azerbaijani President Aliyev's family and, particularly, his daughters possess enormous wealth in different countries of the world. I had an opportunity to voice about this phenomenon during the previous plenary sessions of our organization. But because the topic under discussion is the struggle against corruption, I would like to reiterate that we should make efficient proposals and provide guarantees for overcoming this phenomenon,'' he said.
Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani Opposition Tuesday Interpol Not to Extradite Yunus Couple on Demand from Baku Baku / 06/13/17 / Turan: Following a letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and on behalf of lawyers from the European Human Rights Advocacy Center addressed to the Secretary General of Interpol, Prof Dr Jürgen Stock, Secretary-General, INTERPOL received a joint appeal of 26 international human rights organizations entitled: "Prevent the misuse of Interpol in case of prominent Azerbaijani human rights defenders". The link of this appeal in English is: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__iphronline.org&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=zi4PQSy9Dajv9cp5HDFaFYuvvwMTYCE2Jz6D385l3nY&s=QOoQBtsn7GOBupurhzD1AYYTr_pToPNiseDinjq6Gc4&e= /joint-ngo-appeal-prevent-misuse-inter, the historian Arif Yunus said. The Interpol response has already been received, which says that the Azerbaijani authorities' request to arrest Arif and Leila Yunus and forced deportation to Azerbaijan will be rejected. "Thus, the question of our compulsory extradition with the help of Interpol is closed, but we are not going to end our struggle on this.Amongless that, the authorities of Azerbaijan raised an important topic: the need to reform Interpol to prevent the use of this international institution in the struggle of dictatorial and authoritarian regimes with dissidents. After all, these regimes in many countries in the post-Soviet space and in other regions of the world have long been trying to use Interpol to arrest and deport dissidents from their countries. We raised this issue to prevent the use of Interpol in the dirty intentions of the dictators," A. Yunus said on the Facebook page. In May, the Baku Court of Appeal ruled that the human rights activists and former political prisoners Leila and Arif Yunus that had to leave the country and are currently living in the Netherlands should be forcibly brought to the court. * Recall that Leila and Arif Yunus were arrested in 2014, and convicted on a far-fetched charge of spying for Armenia in 2015. They spent about a year and a half in prison. They were released on parole, but the charges were not quashed. Later they were allowed to go abroad for treatment. -0-
YEREVAN. – The Minister of Emergency Situations of Armenia, Davit Tonoyan, on Monday received a US delegation, led by Ambassador Richard Mills.
Tonoyan stressed the importance of regional cooperation and noted that, with US assistance, this cooperation can become closer and more effective, the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.
Mills, for his part, said the US and Armenia have been partners for 25 years, the US embassy in capital city Yerevan has always considered the MES a reliable partner, and that they await their future cooperation with the ministry.
The interlocutors discussed avenues for intensification and expansion of cooperation in disaster risk reduction and in emergencies.
On June 10, Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan received the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Richard Hoagland, Igor Popov and Stephane Visconti, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.
The parties discussed the state of the Karabakh conflict, the situation along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact, the developments since the last meeting with the Co-Chairs.
The Armenian Defense Minister called the attention of his guests to the recent incident on the frontline and welcomed the targeted response of the international mediators.
As an important guarantee of the productivity of negotiations over the conflict, Vigen Sargsyan emphasized the importance of implementation of investigation mechanisms in accordance to the Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements, and thereby the formation of an atmosphere of mutual trust.
Armenpress News Agency , Armenia Wednesday Pope Francis congratulates Archbishop Levon Zekiyan on golden jubilee of priestly ordination YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS. Spiritual leader of Turkey’s Armenian Catholic community Archbishop Levon Zekiyan received a congratulatory letter from Pope Francis on the golden jubilee - 50th anniversary of the priestly ordination, Istanbul’s Armenian ‘Zhamanak’ newspaper reports. Although such congratulatory letters are usually sent by cardinals of relevant departments, in Zekiyan’s case the letter was sent personally from Pope Francis with his signature. In the letter Pope Francis said they pray for divine consolation to comfort Archbishop Zekiyan and reward his personal virtues. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__armenpress.am_eng_news_893016_pope-2Dfrancis-2Dcongratulates-2Darchbishop-2Dlevon-2Dzekiyan-2Don-2Dgolden-2Djubilee-2Dof-2Dpriestly-2Dordination.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=8nDkaEyHixrOlzE79irKDtyM_k3TWY8tXk4kKZ6oc7k&s=nIJ1r6-mTnEGUKOImIpBn7J6yOabSd_rj1lqt_YbQB0&e=
“Vahan Martirosyan, who was repeatedly persecuted in Armenia, was forced to leave his homeland. He continued his peacekeeping ideas after moving to Ukraine”, says the statement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace, APA reports.
However, a group of criminals which established their power based on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno Karabakh conflict, opposing to application of international norms and principles to this conflict and showing interest in maintaining the existing status-quo, found Vahan Martirosyan in Ukraine. “Vahan Martirosyan facing pressure from people, who continue the occupation policy and don’t want peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, addressed a video to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace. He repeatedly mentioned European Institutions and International organizations in the message and it is clear evidence that the cooperation between the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform and these organizations cause concern of people, who don’t want peace between the two nations. European parliamentarians' visit to the region, support for the initiative of Peace Platform’s participation in the European Union's programs caused concern of the enemies of peace. Member of Parliament Kyiv Regional Rada, ethnic armenian Armen Shaharyants faced the same problem when he issued statement on joining the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace. It caused great interest of Armenians. It didn’t happen due to pressures. Similar events occur regarding the activity of the Peace Platform. Fore example,
a young writer Lusine Nersisyan, who is living in Khankendi, left the Peace Platform under pressure and a number of Armenian activists are fearing from joining the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace, but are always supporting us.
Peacekeeping requires great sacrifice, courage and effort. As the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace, we understand that Vahan Martirosyan would be unable to take part in the process of peace-building under total pressure of the Armenian power structures and express gratitude to him for going with us through this difficult path. This once again proves that growing international support for the Peace Platform disturbs some forces that regard the establishment of peace, the peaceful coexistence of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples dangerous for their continued existence. As a result of it, the pressure on the Peace Platform increases. Peaceful representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan should cooperate more actively with the Peace Platform as a protest to the forces that oppose this fragile peacemaking process. International Organizations should properly assess the uniqueness of the Peace Platform and strengthen relations with the platform for establishing trust between the two peoples. For this reason, we call upon all international organizations that want peace in the region to help and contribute to the breakthrough in peacekeeping activities in order to unite efforts and ensure the protection of the rights of Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace will continue to intensively pursue its activities for reconciliation of the two peoples and the peaceful settlement of the conflict,” says the statement.
By Rashid Shirinov
The widespread corruption in Armenia is gaining momentum, and now the government of the country has come up with another silly idea.
In addition to the Anti-Corruption Council, Armenia is going to create the second body, now not for fight against corruption but for its prevention.
The Armenian government has proposed to establish another almost identical body to combat the corruption in the country. The draft law "On body for prevention of corruption" was approved at the government meeting on May 25, the Armenian media report.
The Armenian media reported that the new body on prevention of corruption will monitor ethics of the country’s officials, conflicts of interest and other requirements for the Armenian officials.
These requirements will apply not only to high-ranking officials, but also to employees in sectors with high potential risks of corruption: public procurement, public prosecution and investigative bodies.
So far, the Anti-Corruption Council of Armenia failed to fight against this problem, which is destroying the country and its statehood.
The fact of destructive corruption in Armenia was repeatedly pointed out by many foreign representatives in the country. In particular, the U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills has recently harshly demanded from the Armenian authorities to stop this outrage. The diplomat noted that if Armenia does not manage to solve the problem of corruption, it will affect the relations between the two countries in specific areas – for example, in investments.
It is obvious that no matter how many state bodies against corruption Armenia creates, nothing will change while its current president Serzh Sargsyan rules the country. Instead of implementing a serious fight against the problem, the authorities make unrealistic promises for poor Armenian population, just like Sargsyan has recently made at the first meeting of the newly elected Parliament.
The 2015 report of the Transparency International Anti-corruption Center showed that Armenia is one of the most corrupt country of the world.
Despite the European Union Delegation to Yerevan contributing €1.5 million towards two anti-corruption projects in the 2011-2014 period, the doleful situation has shown no signs of change. Moreover, the Armenian authorities do not support the fight but impede it, as the government is itself mired in corruption.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, May 24
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:
The Trump administration released its budget recommendations for fiscal year 2018 to the US Congress with substantial budget cuts, the Massis Post online newspaper said.
Under the administration’s budget, aid to Armenia would be reduced by 67 percent, dropping from $20.4 million in fiscal year 2016 to $6.8 million proposed for fiscal year 2018, according to the newspaper.
Georgia and Ukraine are slated for a 58 percent decrease and a 70 percent decrease in aid, respectively, said the newspaper, noting that assistance to Azerbaijan is cut by 90 percent with a total of $1 million envisioned.
Earlier, the Foreign Policy magazine said that US authorities intend to reduce financial aid to developing countries. In particular, there was information about complete reduction of financial assistance to Azerbaijan.
Armenpress News Agency, Armenia Saturday People of Artsakh only lack peace - Deputy Director of CIS Countries Institute YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS. It’s time to give peace to the people of Artsakh, Vladimir Evseev, deputy director of the CIS Countries Institute, told reporters within the frames of round-table discussion entitled ‘Security in the context of development of political institutions of the unrecognized states in the South Caucasus”, reports Armenpress. “It is difficult to build statehood in the conditions of the armed conflict, which, unfortunately, is being escalated. I visited Nagorno Karabakh in August, 2014, the period when the situation was tense. I have visited there also during the constitutional referendum this year, and we were together in the place when the residents of Talish were resettled. All these speak about the fact that war has taken place and it can happen, and in these circumstances the Nagorno Karabakh Republic makes an important decision, changing the Constitution, switching to a presidential system, compared to the parliamentary one which was formed in Armenia. I have visited various regions of Nagorno Karabakh, and I can state that the people are firmly determined not to leave their lands. They have everything, various resources, they only lack peace”, he said. “I met with the leadership of the Artsakh Republic: I think Nagorno Karabakh is lucky to have such leadership. I have many friends there, it’s pleasure for me to communicate with the people”, he said, adding that the people of Artsakh are not only ready to resist that tough pressure, but also they have strong sense of defending their own territory.