President Serzh Sargsyan arrived in Poland today to participate in the NATO meeting on Afghanistan with Resolute Support Operational Partner Nations at the level of Heads of State and Government held within the framework of the NATO summit.
The delegations were welcomed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Poland’s President Andrzej Duda.
President Sargsyan is expected to meet with US Secretary of State John kerry later today.
President Serzh Sargsyan received today the President of the National Bank of Argentina Carlos Melconian.
The President welcomed the guest to our country and using the opportunity once again congratulated him on his appointment as President of the National Bank of Argentina. President Sargsyan wished Carlos Melconian all the best on that responsible position. The President of Armenia noted that in Armenia we always respond with joy and pride to the achievements of our compatriots residing abroad because their accomplishments bring honor and good reputation to the entire nation, promoting and deepening also our bilateral relations. According to the President, in the strengthening of the Armenian-Argentine high level relations the role of prominent representatives of the Armenian community is significant and among them the input of the famous businessman Eduardo Ernekian. Serzh Sargsyan expressed hope that the visit of the President of the National Bank of Argentina will contribute to the establishment of a close cooperation between the banking systems of Armenia and Argentina.
The interlocutors stressed the importance of such visits which, according to the parties, give a new impetus to the bilateral relations and provide a good opportunity to discuss various issues pertinent to the interstate cooperation.
Carlos Melconian conveyed to the President of Armenia warm greetings from the President of Argentina Mauricio Macri and his great desire and readiness to deepen and strengthen the Armenian-Argentine relations.
At the meeting, the President hailed the significant contribution of the people and authorities of Argentina to the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.
In the context of the bilateral cooperation, the President of Armenia and President of National Bank of Argentina stressed the importance of expanding and enhancing the bilateral trade and economic ties. They concurred that towards that end the National Bank of Argentina can play a considerable role.
Carlos Melconian noted that the visit to Armenia was important for him not only from the professional and ceremonial points of view, but also emotionally since he was visiting the land of his ancestors who at the beginning of the previous century as a result of the Armenian Genocide had been forced to find refuge in the distant Argentina. The President of the National Bank of Argentina spoke with pride about the Armenians residing in Argentina who, according to Carlos Melconian, enjoy great respect and influence in the Argentine society.
“All conflicts on CIS territory and in any other region should be solved exceptionally in a peaceful way through political-diplomatic means,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, addressing the State Duma.
“This refers to the crisis in Ukraine, the issues of Transnistria and Nagorno Karabakh,” he said.
“The most important is to respect the agreements reached between the parties, and not to allow their revision. We are confident that the crisis situations could be settled easier had the system defects in the field of pan-European cooperation been overcome and the dividing lines eliminated,” Lavrov stressed.
On 8 June Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan had a meeting with a group of representatives of the Belgian Armenian community, NKR President’s Press Office reported.
A range of issues related to Artsakh domestic and foreign policy were touched upon during the meeting.
The President pointed out that the Armenian community in Belgium had always played an active role in supporting the Homeland, voicing his hope that such a patriotic activity would expand over the years.
Two police officers were killed and many others were wounded in a large car bomb attack that hit the police headquarters of the Midyat district in the southeastern province of Mardin on the morning of June 8, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.
A number of ambulances and security reinforcements were sent to the scene after the attack, which took place at around 11 a.m.
The bomb-laden car was detonated as it was passing through the security barriers at the entrance of the headquarters, which were built as a precaution against attacks.
Surrounding buildings were also damaged in the blast.
Turkey was also hit by a car bomb attack on June 7, which targeted a police vehicle in Istanbul’s Vezneciler neighborhood.
A cloth with a drop of papal blood has gone missing from the Cologne Cathedral, German police said. A churchgoer noticed the theft and alerted officials, who urged the thieves to return the relic, reports.
The perpetrators dislodged a glass container holding the blood of John Paul II from the base of the pope’s statue, police said on Sunday. The theft took place during the previous night.
“Although the material value is low, the spiritual value is a lot bigger,” the cathedral’s provost Gerd Bachner said, according to the police statement.
The theft was first noticed by a visitor who alerted the cathedral usher on Sunday.
The Cologne Cathedral has housed the cloth since 2013, honoring the late pontiff who visited the church in 1980. The relic was placed in the container so believers could touch it.
A massive search is continuing for a second day for an EgyptAir plane that disappeared over the Mediterranean, the BBC reports.
Greek, Egyptian, French and UK military units are taking part in the operation near Greece’s Karpathos island.
Flight MS804 was en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew when it vanished early on Thursday.
Greece said radar showed the Airbus A320 had made two sharp turns and dropped more than 7,620m before plunging into the sea.
Egypt says the plane was more likely to have been brought down by a terrorist act than a technical fault.
Most of the people on board Flight MS804 were from Egypt and France. A Briton was also among the passengers.
So far, no wreckage or debris from the aircraft has been found.
By Harut Sassounian
The California Courier
Kicking and punching are becoming a daily routine in the Turkish Parliament. Whenever Armenian or Kurdish Members of the Parliament criticize the government, they are viciously attacked by a gang MPs from Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
In recent days, AKP Parliamentarians have hurled insults and physically assaulted Garo Paylan (an Armenian) and Ferhat Encu (a Kurd) who represent the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Parliament.
Paylan delivered an unprecedented speech in the Turkish Parliament on April 21, 2016. After greeting the deputies in Armenian, by saying “Parev tsez,” he boldly continued: “Once World War One began on April 24, 1915, Armenian intellectuals, opinion leaders and parliamentarians were, unfortunately, the first to be arrested…. Although they had immunity, they were arrested and taken to Ankara, Ayash, Urfa and Diyarbekir, and on the way, the deputies were murdered by bandits. Of course, after the community’s opinion leaders and MPs were made powerless, and their claims to solve issues through democratic processes became redundant, the Armenian and Assyrian peoples suffered great massacres by decree and were evicted from the ancient lands where they had lived for thousands of years.”
Paylan dared to raise the shameful legacy of the Armenian Genocide which persists to this day in Turkey: “Look at the names of Talat Pasha, Jemal Pasha, and Enver Pasha. In 2,500 places in the country, streets were named after them. Today, unfortunately, we walk in streets named Talat Pasha. Can you imagine going to Germany and Berlin today and walking in streets named after Hitler and Goebbels? Would such a thing be acceptable? Well, in 2,500 places in our country, we walk in streets and avenues named Talat Pasha.”
During his remarks, Paylan recited the names and displayed enlarged photographs of several Armenian members of the Turkish Parliament, including Krikor Zohrab, who were arrested on April 24, 1915, and brutally murdered. The Armenian MP fearlessly proposed that a parliamentary committee be formed to investigate the circumstances of their deaths, identify those responsible for their murders — those who ordered their killings and actually carried them out — locate where their bodies were buried, rebury them with appropriate funeral services, and restore their dignity. Not surprisingly, Paylan’s proposal was rejected by the majority of Parliament.
After expressing his respect for the memory of the perished Armenian members of the Turkish Parliament in 1915, Paylan concluded his speech with traditional Armenian words of condolences for the departed: “Asdvads irents hokin lousavore” (May God enlighten their souls). Throughout his lengthy and courageous remarks, Paylan was repeatedly interrupted by taunts and threats from AKP MPs.
On May 2nd, as a parliamentary committee met to strip opposition members of their immunity from prosecution, Paylan was kicked and punched over 100 times by Erdogan’s AKP members during a 10-minute all-out brawl. Paylan described the assault as “a premeditated lynching because of his Armenian heritage.”
After the attack, when HDP members walked out of the hearing, the committee voted to approve the AKP proposal to lift the immunity of pro-Kurdish HDP MPs. This inflammatory measure is expected to be approved by Parliament shortly! Most Kurdish members along with Paylan will then be arrested on trumped-up charges. Most probably Erdogan plans to announce new parliamentary elections, hoping the AKP will win additional seats vacated by the HDP, giving him enough votes in Parliament to amend the Constitution and establish a powerful autocratic presidential regime.
Meanwhile, Paylan’s fate seems to be sealed! He will either serve a long jail term or suffer the same tragic fate as Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was assassinated in cold blood by Turkish extremists in Istanbul on January 19, 2007!
All people of goodwill around the world must raise their voices in condemnation of Erdogan’s increasingly despotic rule. It is ironic that Paylan, who was lamenting the killing of Parliamentarian Krikor Zohrab a century ago, may end up dead himself, unless the international community issues a serious warning to the Turkish government to take the strictest measures to ensure the safety of the Armenian MP. Regrettably, nothing seems to have changed in Turkey in the last 100 years!
“Today we are celebrating the feats of all our generations, which never fade and find their reflection in the deeds of today’s soldiers and volunteers. They further enrich our history,” Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan told reporters today.
The Defense Minister said the situation at the frontline is relatively calm.
Asked whether the recognition of Artsakh could lead to new aggression on the part of Azerbaijan, Minister Ohanyan said: “The Armenian diplomacy is fulfilling its task at full, and the efforts are targeted at the gradual recognition of NKR. It demands a delicate and consistent work, and the military-political leadership of Armenia is busy with that. I think we’re on the right track,” Seyran Ohanyan noted.
“Turkish President was yet another failed expression of denialim, an obvious attempt to lay the responsibility for the genocide on Armenians,” Armenian deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told a press conference today.
“Turkey maintains efforts to put the victims of war and the victims of genocide planned and perpetrated on a state level,” he added.
“Turkey’s denialist posture further increases the gap between the Armenian and Turkish peoples, acknowledgement of history and penitence is the best way to overcome it,” th Deputy Foreign Minister said.