Author: Parkev Tvankchian

 

 

 

No developments were reported on Khorenatsi Street overnight, no incident was reported at the site of the attack on police premises, either.

Chief of Police Vladimir Gasparyan, other high ranking policemen were at the scene at night.

First Human Rights Defender Larisa Alaverdyan and MP Nikol Pashinyan also visited the site,m but were not allowed to enter the building.

Gunman  stormed the premises of a police regiment of Armenia’s Police this morning and took people hostage, Press Service of the Armenian National Security Service reports.

At the same time their supports are disseminating misinformation on social media about a coup and invasion of buildings. The NSS declares that the reports do not correspond to reality.

The state authorities are working in their normal capacity and the law enforcement bodies are  working to stabilize the situation. Negotiations are under way with the armed group to organize their surrender to RA authorities.

“We assure that this any and similar attempts will be foiled by the law-enforcement bodies, those responsible will be held accountable,” the NSS said.

President Serzh Sargsyan has offered condolences to his French counterpart Francois Hollande over the deadly attack in Nice.

“I’m deeply shocked by the reports of the terrible crime in Nice that claimed the lives of dozens of innocent people.

France has been a target of terrorist attacks trice in the course of the past 1.5 years. The attacks are a blow not only to France, but also all humanity. This is also a message of being more decisive in uniting our efforts in the fight against international terrorism.

I express deep condolences to you, the French government and the relatives of the victims on this tragedy that befell your country. I assure that Armenia and the Armenian people stand by friendly France at this moment of grief,” President Sargsyan wrote.

The Azerbaijani side has been operating training flights 30km away from the line of contact with NKR Armed Forces starting from 08:26 today.

The NKR Defense Ministry reports that 12 planes and 41 helicopters are involved in the training.

The NKR Air Defense forces are controlling the training flights of the Azerbaijani forces and closely following their actions through the radiolocation, shooting and monitoring systems.

Photo: BBC

 

British Prime Minister Tony Blair told U.S. President George W. Bush eight months before the 2003 invasion of Iraq “I will be with you, whatever”, and relied on flawed intelligence and legal advice to go to war, a seven-year inquiry concluded on Wednesday, reports.

It strongly criticized Blair on a range of issues, saying the threat posed by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons of mass destruction had been over-hyped and the planning for the aftermath of war had been inadequate.

Blair responded that he had taken the decision to go to war “in good faith”, that he still believed it was better to remove Saddam, and that he did not see that action as the cause of terrorism today, in the Middle East or elsewhere.

“The intelligence assessments made at the time of going to war turned out to be wrong. The aftermath turned out to be more hostile, protracted and bloody than ever we imagined,” the former prime minister told reporters.

“For all of this, I express more sorrow, regret and apology than you will ever know.”

The only Labour prime minister to win three general elections, Blair was in office for 10 years until 2007 and was hugely popular in his heyday, but Iraq has severely tarnished his reputation and legacy.

Responding to questions from journalists, Mr Blair says passionately while gesticulating with his arms that some people talk “as if I don’t care about the loss of life”, according to .

But he says: “I had to decide are more people going to suffer, are more people going to die if we leave this dictator in power.”

Asked whether he would apologise to the families of the British servicemen and women who lost their lives, Mr Blair says: “I can look the nation in the eye and say I did not mislead this country.. I made the decision in good faith on information I had at the time, and can say it is better we took the decision.”

Pope Francis’s visit to Armenia was discussed at the sitting of the Supreme Religious Council held today at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin under the chairmanship of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

His Holiness Karekin II appreciated the Pontiff’s brotherly visit to Armenia June 24-26.

Members of the Council noted that the Pope’s three-day visit was the best evidence of the warm brotherly relations and cooperation between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis says he decided to use the word ‘genocide’ in his speech at the Armenian presidential Palace, because “it would have sounded strange not to say at least the same thing I said last year.”

Asked Sunday en route home from Armenia why he decided to add “genocide” into his prepared remarks, Francis said it was simply the term that he had always used in Argentina, where he was close to the Armenian community.

“In Argentina, when you spoke of the Armenian extermination, they always used the word “genocide.” I didn’t know another. At the cathedral in Buenos Aires, we put a stone cross in the third altar on the left, remembering the Armenian genocide. The archbishop came, two Armenian archbishops, the Catholic and the Apostolic, they inaugurated it… also the Apostolic Archbishop in the Catholic Church of St. Bartholomew made an altar in memory of St. Bartholomew… but always… I didn’t know. I another word come from this word. When I arrived in Rome, I heard another word: “The Great Evil” or the “terrible tragedy,” but in Armenian, I don’t know how to say it… and they tell me that no, that that is offensive, that of “genocide,” and that you must say this. I’ve always spoke of three genocides in the last century… always three! The first was the Armenian, then that of Hitler, and the last is that of Stalin… there are small ones, there is another in Africa, but as in the orbit of the two great wars there are these three… I’ve asked why… “but some feel like it’s not true, that there wasn’t a genocide”… another said to me… a lawyer told me this that really interested me: the word “genocide” is a technical word, it’s a word that is not a synonym of “extermination.” You can say extermination, but declaring a “genocide” brings with it actions of reparation… this is what the lawyer said to me,” Pope told reporters.

“Last year, when I was preparing the speech, I saw that St John Paul II had used the word, that he used both: Great Evil and genocide. And I cited that one in quotation marks… and it wasn’t received well. A statement was made by the Turkish government. Turkey, in a few days called its ambassador to Ankara, who is a great man, Turkey sent us a top ambassador, who returned three months ago… But, Turkey has the right… The right to protest, we all have it,” the Pope said.

Speaking of his use of the word ‘genocide on the first day of his visit to Armenia, the Pope said: “In this speech at the start there wasn’t a word, that is true. I respond because I added it. But after having heard the tone of the speech of the president and also with my past with this word, and having said this word last year in St. Peter’s publicly, it would have sounded strange not to say at least the same thing. But there, I wanted to underscore something else, and I don’t think I err that I also said: in this genocide, as in the other two, the great international powers looked in the other direction. And this was the thing. In the Second World War some powers, which had photographed the train lines that led to Auschwitz had the possibility to bomb and didn’t do it. An example. In the context of the First War, where was the problem of the Armenians? And in the context of the Second War where was the problem of Hitler and Stalin and after Yalta of the area… and all that no one speaks about. One has to underscore this. And make the historical question: why didn’t you do this, you powers?”

“I don’t accuse, I ask a question. It’s curious. They looked at the war, at so many things… but not the people… and I don’t know if it’s true, but I would like to know if it’s true that when Hitler persecuted the Jews, one of the words, of the thing that he may have said was “Well, who remembers today the Armenians, let’s do the same with the Jews.” I don’t know if it’s true, maybe it’s hearsay, but I’ve heard this said. Historians, search and see if it’s true. I think I answered. But I never said this word with an offensive intention, if not objectively,” the Pope said.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) does not take part in work to pave the way for a three-party summit on the settlement in Nagorno Karabakh, OSCE Acting Spokesperson Natacha Rajakovic told TASS on Tuesday.

She said the European security agency was not involved in work to organize the summit in Russia’s St. Petersburg and could not comment on it.

The Tuesday that  Russian President Vladimir Putin will host talks in St Petersburg on June 20 between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armeniana in St. Petersburg.

Statement of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Azerbaijan’s fabricated accusations on the use of white phosphorus has been distributed in the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council, the Armenian Foreign Ministry informs on Twitter.

 

 

Asbarez – The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund proclaimed a joint appeal with all major Armenian organizations of the Western United States, to develop and strengthen Artsakh’s statehood and, especially today, to further its security:

At this time of crisis, when the people of Artsakh are engaged in a life-and-death struggle to defend our homeland against the blatant aggression of the Azeri armed forces,

We, the Armenian churches, organizations, and unions of the Western United States declare that:

ACTING in the spirit of pan-Armenian unity;

ASSERTING that the security of Artsakh is of indisputable and absolute importance to every Armenian;

RECOGNIZING the crucial and ongoing role which the Armenia Fund (Hayastan All-Armenian Fund) has had for the past quarter century in the development and strengthening of Artsakh’s statehood, by uniting the largest structures of the Armenian diaspora around this vision,

We REAFFIRM our unanimous support of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s mission and goals,

AND

APPEAL to all Armenian Americans to generously contribute to the Armenia Fund’s HELP ARTSAKH! Telethon, which will be broadcast by all Armenian television channels in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 14, 2016. This special Telethon is dedicated to addressing the urgent humanitarian needs of war-torn Artsakh.

Contributing to the security of the homeland is the duty of every Armenian.

May 9, 2016
Los Angeles, California

Western Diocese of the Apostolic Church of North America, Burbank

Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, La Crescenta

Armenian Evangelical Union of North America

Armenian Catholic Eparchy of U.S. and Canada

Social Democrat Hunchakian Party of the Western USA

Armenian Democratic Liberal (Ramgavar) Party, U.S. Western Region

Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Western U.S. Central Committee

A.G.B.U. Western District Committee

Armenian Relief Society of Western USA

Armenian Assembly of America, Southern California Regional Council