Author: Suren Karakhanian

Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani Opposition
 Friday


International organizations are outraged by the court ruling on the
forced transfer of the spouses Yunus



Baku/19.05.17/Turan:The Observatory has been informed by reliable
sources about a decision issued yesterday by the Appeals Court of
Baku, Azerbaijan, ordering Ms. Leyla Yunus, Director of the Institute
for Peace and Democracy (IPD) and a member of OMCT General Assembly,
and her husband Mr. ArifYunusov, Head of IPD Conflictology Department,
to be forcibly returned to Azerbaijan from the Netherlands in order to
participate in new hearings in their case.

The Observatory strongly deplores the May-17 decision of the Baku
Court of Appeals, which puts Ms. Leyla Yunus and Mr. ArifYunusov"s
physical integrity at serious risk as there are strong reasons to
believe that they would be arbitrarily re-arrested upon arrival in
Azerbaijan.

The Observatory recalls that Mr. ArifYunusov suffers from
hypertension, and Ms. Leyla Yunus from hepatitis, diabetes,
pancreatitis and gallstone disease, which were aggravated after her
arrest, and during their detention in Azerbaijan. Both are still in
need of medical care.

The Observatory calls on the Azeri authorities to immediately and
unconditionally put an end to all forms or attempts of judicial
harassment against Ms. Leyla Yunus and Mr. ArifYunusov, and calls on
the authorities of the Netherlands to ensure their physical integrity
and their personal freedoms by refusing any cooperation with a
judicial system that grossly disregards international standards and
that sentenced the couple to arbitrary and heavy prison terms under
trumped-up charges as a means to sanction their legitimate human
rights activities.

The organization also calls for sending messages to the President of
Azerbaijan with a demand to stop the persecution of the couple Yunus.

The Yunus were arrested in 2014, and convicted on a contrived charge
of spying for Armenia in 2015. They spent about a year and a half in
prison. They were released on parole, but charges were not lifted.
Later they were allowed to go abroad for treatment. -02D-

Ahead of 2017 Aurora Prize Events the first Aurora Prize Laureate Marguerite Barankitse pays a special visit to Armenia. She will meet with communities, cultural and religious leaders in Armenia and Artsakh and will present her mission and the impact of the 2016 Aurora Prize.

“After one year I am extremely happy to visit Armenia again and this time I have more stories to tell. I have brought to Armenia the message of all those happy children and young people who has shelter or better education thanks to the Aurora Prize. Now they can dream more,” said Marguerite Barankitse, 2016 Aurora Prize Laureate. “I look forward to meeting young people of Armenia and Artsakh and everyone who will open their doors and hearts to me.”

On May 20 Marguerite Barankitse visited Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute where a special exhibition is opened dedicated to Aurora Mardiganian, the inspirational woman behind the Aurora Prize. Mrs. Barankitse left a note in the Memory Book of Honorable Guests and laid flowers at the Armenian Genocide Memorial. At the end of the visit the First Aurora Prize Laureate planted a tree in the Memory Alley of Tsitsernakaberd complex in memoriam of the Armenian Genocide victims.

“The mission and idea behind the Aurora Prize is very important to us and we felt the need to invite the Aurora Prize Laureates to have their symbolic presence at Tsitsernakaberd Complex planting a tree every year. It will become a continuous tradition both for Armenia and Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex,” said Hayk Demoyan, director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.

From Yerevan Maggy will travel to the south of Armenia where she will visit the medieval Tatev monastery complex. In Goris she will meet local NGO representatives, cultural leaders and students. She will also visit Axel Bakunts house-museum. Later Marguerite Barankitse will take a trip to Artsakh where in Shushi she will visit St. Ghazanchetsots church, Upper mosque, and Naregatsi Art Center where a cultural performance will be set and she will meet with local community.

In Stepanakert Marguerite Barankitse will meet the students of Artsakh State University, will visit War Martyrs Museum. Later she will go to Gandzasar monastery.

Marguerite will also pay a visit to Gyumri where she will go to the Armeian Catholic Church and “Trchunyan” orphanage. In Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin Marguerite Barankitse will meet His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians and will present her work and the impact of the 2016 Aurora Prize. Maggy will also meet with the representatives of «Altitude 5165» humanitarian organization in Etchmiadzin.

From May 26 with hundreds of other guests Marguerite will attend Aurora Prize Events in Yerevan and Dilijan. The events will culminate with the 2017 Aurora Prize Award Ceremony on May 28 in Yerevan.

Marguerite Barankitse, the founder of Maison Shalom and REMA hospital, received the Aurora Prize on April 24, 2016, for the exceptional impact of her actions on preserving lives during the years of civil war in Burundi. To date, she has saved 30 thousand children and offered them shelter and care.

President Serzh Sargsyan received today EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia Herbert Salber.

The interlocutors referred to Armenia-EU relations, parliamentary elections in Armenia, reforms to be implemented in different spheres, as well as the opportunities of furthering the negotiation process on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

The EU Special Representative congratulated President Sargsyan on the successful conduct of parliamentary elections, underlining that Armenia made a serious step towards stability and reinforcement of democracy. Mr. Salber hailed the progress in Armenia-EU relations.

President Sargsyan, in turn, emphasized EU’s considerable contribution in the process of preparation of the elections, which helped organize elections meeting international standards.

Serzh Sargsyan and Herbert Salber discussed the perspectives of furthering the negotiation process, the existing problems and challenges, the ways of EU’s possible contribution to the process.

The EU Special Representative assured of the European Union’s willingness to contribute to the settlement of the conflict by supporting the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs within the bounds of possibility.

Armenian Patriarch’s Locum Tenens, Archbishop Karekin Bekciyan has released a written statement after his meeting with VADİP (Cooperation and Consultation Platform for Foundations), Agos reports.

On April 19, Karekin Bekciyan and Bishop Sahak Masalyan came together with the Coordination Committee of VADİP. After the meeting, the Locum Tenens released a written statement. Saying that “the process of election should start now,” Bekciyan criticized the attitude of the foundation executives. Bekçiyan stated that he will launch meetings for forming the Electoral Committee and he criticized the current administration of the patriarchate.

Here are the highlights from the statement:

“In the last 5 weeks, I preferred to wait and hold some meetings to listen to opinions and recommendations of various authorities. There was a referendum ahead and the state advised us to be patient for a while. Though the patriarchal election is an internal matter of our church and society, we had to consider the recommendations and needs of the government. However, in my opinion, we should start the process for electing our 85^th patriarch now.

After the Locum Tenens election, I expected civil society and foundation executives to respect and support this election. I also expected the current administration of the patriarchate to act in accordance with the result of election. Unfortunately, I have to say that my expectations haven’t been met.

We held a meeting with Coordination Committee of VADİP and Bishop Masalyan accompanied me. I saw that the members of the committee respect the result of Locum Tenens election, but they hesitate over starting the process of patriarchal election and think that we have to wait for a while.

Nevertheless, members of the committee stated that relations with the patriarchate and the process of election would normalize within 10-15 days. Relying on this statement, I will work for forming the Electoral Committee.

On the other hand, it is clear that clerics who held the Locum Tenens election are under serious pressure. As the elected Locum Tenens, I have to urge the current administration of the patriarchate to stop this unfair and improper behavior and act in accordance with the ecclesiastical ethics.”

The Russian Investigative Committee has identified Kyrgyzstan native Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, 22, as suicide bomber, who blew himself up in  Saint Petersburg metro on Monday, killing 14 and injuring dozens of people, Sputnik reports.

“The investigation established the identity of the man who carried out an explosion in the metro train carriage in St. Petersburg. It was Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, born on 01.04.1995,” committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told reporters.

“I am sure we can identify untapped areas in the trade and economic fields in order to eliminate the disproportion, or asymmetry, as minister Kotzias said, between our political relations and economic dialogue”, stated Armenian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Garen Nazarian during an interview with the .  The Deputy Minister highlighted the fact that “interstate relations between Armenia and Greece are based on historical bonds of friendship” between the two nations and added that “there is a vibrant Armenian community in Greece effectively integrated into the social, economic and political life of the country”. Finally as far as relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan are concerned Nazarian made it clear that the closing of the border by the Turkish side “has to be revised”.

Read the full interview

Greece and Armenia are connected through a centuries old friendship and have always cooperated at multiple levels. Which areas of cooperation do you consider important for the further development of these relations and what do you plan to do? Mr. Kotzias spoke of three asymmetries that need to be addressed.

First of all I would like to warmly welcome minister Kotzias and his delegation. This is his first visit to Yerevan and we will use the opportunity to have substantial discussions aimed at expanding our bilateral relations in all possible areas. The interstate relations between Armenia and Greece are based on historical bonds of friendship between our nations and we share a lot of commonalities.

During the meeting ministers rightly highlighted the asymmetric issues and we need to pay more attention to that aspect and in particular the full implementation of previously agreed commitments, including those that are entrenched in our legal framework. The latter will also need a further assessment; and we will start working on that immediately, to identify the potential areas for a beneficial cooperation.

We are fortunate to have an extensive political dialogue between our friendly governments. High-level reciprocal visits are taking place on both sides. In 2014 the President of Greece was in Armenia, in 2016 the President of Armenia visited Greece. We have regular meetings and exchanges between our foreign and defence ministers and these are the best opportunities to exchange views on priority issues of bilateral, regional and international concern.

More meetings are planned for today between our Foreign Ministers and later on, with the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and we look forward to the outcome of these meetings. I am sure we can identify untapped areas especially in the trade and economic fields in order to eliminate the disproportion, or asymmetry, as minister Kotzias said, between our political relations and economic dialogue.

Potential areas of expanding the sectoral cooperation would be tourism, which is already happening. As you know, the number of Armenians who are visiting Greece increased last year more than three times. We also expect Greeks visiting Armenia. We welcome the resumption of regular direct and charter flights between our countries. Strong cultural interconnections, along with the exchanges in the fields of education and science can also form solid grounds for future cooperation. And of course trade and investment issues will be on our special focus. We have been tasked to start the preparation of the business forum by the end of this year and this will require careful and targeted steps on both sides.

What about the visa liberalisation for Armenian citizens? Can this occur soon or is it difficult?

Visa liberalisation dialogue for the citizens of Armenia has been referred to in the joint declaration of the Riga Summit of the Eastern Partnership in 2015 and this is an important bilateral commitment on behalf of Armenia and the European Union to move towards that direction. Armenia is implementing the agreements on visa facilitation and readmission in good faith and based on the positive assessment of the implementation of mentioned  agreements we hope very much to be able to launch the Visa dialogue soon and we also count on the support of friendly Greece and other partners in Europe.

The geographical position of Armenia has made it a crossroads of civilizations and tensions. Over many years, your relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan were strained. Which is the best way to resolve these differences? How can Greece help in a solution?

As you know the border is closed by the Turkish side and this unilateral coercive measure imposed on Armenia is subject for international condemnation. This action by the neighbouring country has to be revised in order to make the implementation of different projects possible in the region at large and create a conducive environment for regional cooperation. As a landlocked country we give an utmost importance to create and maintain a favourable political and economic environment in order to further our relations with the neighbouring countries, as well as the EU, Russia and others. So, we are very much interested in continuing the dialogue with Greece and other interested countries on this and other regional matters and I am glad that in many aspects, including on the issue of closed borders, we share the same views and positions.

A few days ago you proceeded to an agreement with the EU for a more integrated partnership. At the same time you participate in the Eurasian economic union (EAEU). Isn’t this contradictory?

Some ten days ago the President of Armenia was in Brussels and during the meeting with the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, they jointly announced the completion of negotiations between Armenia and the EU on the new legal framework. Armenia has been advocating from the very beginning of this process the need to seize the opportunities for cooperation with different integration formats. Throughout the process of negotiations with the EU we have identified compatible areas of cooperation with both EAEU and EU. This exercise, these negotiations have demonstrated that it is possible to be a member of the EAEU and at the same time have a comprehensive and enhanced partnership with the EU. As I said, we already completed the negotiations and we look forward to the next steps – the initialing and signing of the agreement.

It is known that the Diaspora has approximately three times as large a population than the permanent citizens of Armenia. How much do they affect the political and economic life of the country? Is there a balance in this relationship?

Since ancient times, Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the world. However, the modern Armenian diaspora was largely formed as a result of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, when the Armenians living in their ancestral homeland were systematically exterminated by the Ottoman government. The remnants of the nation miraculously found refuge in neighbouring countries. Today, there is a vibrant Armenian community in Greece effectively integrated into the social, economic and political life of the country. The Armenian communities serve as an important bridge between the homeland and their host countries. They are strongly linked with Armenia and very much focused on the domestic and foreign policy that Armenia conducts in number of areas. It is important to maintain this strong linkage and traditions in our relationship with Armenians living abroad. This is another area where we can effectively cooperate and combine our efforts given that fact that there is a strong presence of Greeks in many countries of the world.

President Serzh Sargsyan received today Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.

Noting that Armenia and Russia will celebrate the 25^th anniversary of diplomatic relations in a month, President Sargsyan said it’s a good occasion to assess the bilateral relations and establish guidelines for the future.

The Russian State Duma Speaker emphasized the dynamic development of interstate relations and said the parliaments of the two countries are planning to expand relations and the cooperation framework. Vyacheslav Volodin attached importance to decentralized cooperation.

President Sargsyan stressed the importance of parliamentary diplomacy in the development of interstate relations and attached importance to the continuous reinforcement of inter-parliamentary relations.

Russian travelers will soon be able to enter Armenia on an internal passport as part of Yerevan’s plan to boost tourism, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian told Sputnik.

The Armenian government agreed last week to ease rules for Russian nationals coming to the country. Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan ordered that change take effect by March.

“This agreement was made on the level of Russian and Armenian presidents, who gave the order, and steps have already been taken to carry it out…Russians will be able to enter Armenia on internal passports in coming days,” Nalbandian said.

Armenia’s Justice Minister Arpine Hovhannisyan said border guard officials would not stamp Russian passports to make sure identification documents stay valid.

The US Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s nomination for attorney general, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, by a vote of 52 to 47.

The confirmation follows a series of divisive hearings during which Democrats attacked Mr Sessions’ record on civil rights.

Democrat Elizabeth Warren was silenced after recalling historic allegations of racism against Mr Sessions.

The Alabama senator’s nomination was among Mr Trump’s most controversial.

The vote largely followed party lines, with just one Democrat senator – Joe Manchin of West Virginia – voting for Mr Sessions.

Mr Sessions’ Republican colleagues in the chamber applauded him as their majority carried him over the line. He will now take charge of the Justice Department and its 113,000 employees, including 93 US attorneys.

Blogger Alexander Lapshin’s lawyers have appealed the decision on his extradition to Azerbaijan at the Supreme Court of Belarus, TASS quotes the Court’s Press Secretary Yulia Lyaskova as saying.

“Tomorrow (February 7) the Supreme Court will consider the legality and validity of the ruling of the Minsk City Court, which recognized the decision of the Belarus Prosecutor General’s Office on his extradition to Azerbaijan valid,” she said.

Alexander Lapshin, who holds Russian and Israeli citizenship, was detained in Minsk in December 2015 at the request of Azerbaijan for his prior visits to Nagorno Karabakh.