http://artsakhpress.am/arm/news/69145/arcakhi–hanrapetakan—-bzhshkakan–kentrony—hamalrvel–e——aknabuzhakan—nor-sarqavormamb.html
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Author: Tania Jagharian
BAKU: Azerbaijan threatened to Armenia an adequate answer for use of strike drones on frontline
Azerbaijan Business Center
Azerbaijan threatened to Armenia an adequate answer for use of strike drones on frontline
Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The Ministry of Defence of Azerbaijan informed that Armenia used a strike unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or a drone) on the Karabakh frontline against the Azerbaijani Armed Forces strike
The Ministry says that due to the low quality of the Armenian UAV, the drone caused no damage to the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan.
"In case of further use of shock drones, Armenia will get an adequate response," the Ministry of Defence emphasized.
BAKU: OSCE MG urges Karabakh conflict sides to reduce tensions
Trend, Azerbaijan
18:40 (UTC+04:00)
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 19
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:
The OSCE Minsk Group (MG) encourages the sides of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to consider measures that would reduce tensions on the line of contact and the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, says a statement by the OSCE MG co-chairs, issued June 19.
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (ambassadors Igor Popov of Russia, Stephane Visconti of France, and Richard Hoagland of the United States of America), together with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, traveled to the region in June, says the statement.
The main purpose of the co-chairs’ visit was to discuss the position of the sides towards the next steps in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process after the trilateral ministerial meeting in Moscow (April 28), as well as the overall situation in the conflict zone, according to the statement.
The co-chairs met with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan on June 10 and with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on June 19, as well as held consultations with the two countries’ foreign and defense ministers, says the statement.
In Baku, they also met with the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh.
In their talks in Baku, the co-chairs expressed deep concern over the recent violations of the ceasefire, resulting in casualties on the line of contact on the eve of their visit to Azerbaijan.
They appealed to the conflict sides to avoid further escalation, says the statement.
“In both capitals, the co-chairs called upon the parties to re-engage in negotiations on substance, in good faith and with political will,” according to the statement. “They underscored that this is the only way to bring a lasting peace to the people of the region, who expect and deserve progress in the settlement of the conflict. The presidents expressed their intention to resume political dialogue in an attempt to find a compromise solution for the most controversial issues of the settlement.”
The co-chairs will travel to Vienna to brief the members of the Minsk Group on July 3, says the statement. They also plan to meet again soon with the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers to discuss modalities of the forthcoming work.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Sports: Armenian female fencers to begin competition at European Fencing Championships today
Panorama, Armenia
2017 European Fencing Championships is under way in Tbilisi, Georgia, with the participation of the adult fencing team of Armenia. The female fencers of Armenia will begin competing in the saber discipline of the championship today.
As the Armenian National Olympic Committee told Panorama.am, in the saber discipline of the Men’s Championship Armenian fencer Edward Ovikyan claimed a beautiful victory against his Turkish opponent in the fight for top 64. The Armenian athlete, however, suffered a defeat in the next round.
In the same discipline, Armenia’s Mikayel Ghazaryan did not make it to the top 64. In the epee discipline, Armenian fencers were also left outside of the top 64.
BAKU: General Staff: Azerbaijani Armed Forces fully ready to liberate occupied lands
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
14:20 (UTC+04:00)
By Rashid Shirinov
Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces are fully ready to liberate the occupied lands, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of Azerbaijani Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Nizam Osmanov told Trend on June 14.
He reminded that the Azerbaijani army struck a crushing blow to the enemy while preventing Armenian provocation in April last year.
“This once again demonstrated the power of the Azerbaijani army. Today the Azerbaijani flag is waving in our territories liberated following the April fighting,” Osmanov said.
He added that these battles showed that the Azerbaijani people and state will never tolerate the aggression and will restore the country’s territorial integrity at any cost.
Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.
The situation between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops on the frontline aggravated on April 2, 2016, after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands began shelling Azerbaijan’s positions. To protect civilian population, Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region.
On April 5, Azerbaijan and Armenia declared a truce brokered by Russia. During the April clashes, over 320 Armenian servicemen were killed, more than 500 Armenian soldiers were injured, 30 enemy tanks and other armored vehicles, as well as more than 25 artillery pieces were destroyed during the counter attacks of Azerbaijan, while Armenian side hides the real figures saying that only 80 soldiers died.
RFE/RL Armenian Report – 06/09/2017
Friday, June 9, 2017 Procurement Fraud `Minimized' By Government . Artak Hambardzumian Armenia - Prime Minister Karen Karapetian chairs a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, 25May2017. The Armenian government has sharply cut corruption risks in the administration of state procurements criticized by anti-graft watchdogs, a senior Finance Ministry official claimed on Friday. "We have enacted the kind of legislation that would preclude or at least minimize such practices," said Sergey Shahnazarian, the head of a ministry division overseeing procurements by various government agencies. "For that purpose a new system was designed and introduced," he told a news conference. "In my view, it seriously complicates, if not prevents, the manifestations mentioned by you." Shahnazarian cited a government-drafted law that came in force in April. It is meant to make the procurement process much more transparent and prevent conflicts of interests among officials dealing with such purchases. If those officials have relatives among private supplies bidding for government contracts they must formally acknowledge that fact. "We now also publicize data on the real owners [of government contractors,]" said Shahnazarian. "The information is public. You can see who holds more than 10 percent stakes in which companies." Prime Minister Karen Karapetian publicly questioned the integrity of the process just days after taking office in September. He specifically decried "primitive theft" of budgetary funds set aside for government officials' travel expenses. Varuzhan Hoktanian, the program director at the Anti-Corruption Center (ACC), the Armenian affiliate of Transparency International, acknowledged that the new law provides for greater transparency in procurement administration. But he said that it alone will not solve the problem. "When there is no will to expedite clean processes, including in the area of procurements, primitive theft will be placed by more sophisticated theft," Hoktanian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). The ACC has repeatedly charged in recent years that various government agencies purchased many goods and services at disproportionately high prices from a handful of companies usually owned by government-linked individuals. According to it, the government awarded 70 percent of its procurement contracts without any competitive tenders in 2015. Dashnaktsutyun `Not Opposed' To Corruption Whistleblowing . Ruzanna Stepanian Armenia - Armen Rustamian, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, speaks at an election campaign rally in Yerevan, 30Mar2017. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) insisted on Friday that a parliament deputy representing the pro-government party was misunderstood by media when he objected to the introduction of a legal framework for whistleblowing in Armenia. The lawmaker, Andranik Karapetian, said Armenians must not be encouraged to report corruption among their superiors or colleagues to law-enforcement authorities during this week's parliament debates on this and other anti-corruption bills drafted by the government. "The institution of whistleblowers does not befit us, Armenians," Karapetian said. He said the practice would run counter to "Armenianness" and spread mistrust between co-workers in the country. The remarks prompted criticism and ridicule from Armenian media outlets as well as social media users. Commentators also wondered whether they reflect Dashnaktsutyun's position. Armen Rustamian, Dashnaktsutyun's parliamentary leader, claimed that Karapetian merely warned against reviving the Soviet-era practice of false denunciations by citizens which was particularly widespread during Josef Stalin's long rule. "There is such concern because [whistleblowing] will be introduced for the first time," he said. "It's just that [Karapetian] used vocabulary that has been the main theme of the last two days," Rustamian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). He argued that Dashnaktsutyun's parliamentary faction voted for this and other anti-corruption measures passed by the National Assembly this week. The new mechanism officially called a "system of whistleblowing" will enable citizens to report corruption cases known to them. They will be able to anonymously file such reports through a special website. Dashnaktsutyun holds 7 seats in the 105-member parliament and is represented in the government by three ministers. More Armenian Companies To Be Privatized . Astghik Bedevian Armenia - Staff at a post office in Yerevan. Armenia's parliament allowed the government on Friday to privatize the national postal service and dozens of other state-run enterprises, hospitals and recreation facilities. The National Assembly approved a list of 47 entities subject to privatization over strong objections voiced by its opposition minority. Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's cabinet says that they are in need of serious capital investments which can only be raised from private sources. Previous Armenian governments had tried unsuccessfully to sell off some of these entities. "We hope that we will finally find buyers for them," Arman Sahakian, head of Armenia's Department of State Property Management, told lawmakers. Opposition deputies were particularly critical of the inclusion on the list of about a dozen medical centers, including the country's main oncology clinic and a children's hospital in Yerevan. They said private ownership would only increase the cost of medical services provided by them. The children's hospital called the Arabkir Medical Center was for many years managed by Ara Babloyan, a veteran pediatrician who was elected parliament speaker last month. Its current director is his son. Gevorg Gorgisian of the opposition Yelk alliance expressed concern that Babloyan or his family could benefit from the hospital's privatization. The speaker affiliated with the governing Republican Party of Armenia ruled out any conflicts of interest. The most important business enterprises on the privatization list are the Haypost postal service and a jewelry factory based in Yerevan.Haypost has been managed for the past decade by a company controlled by Eduardo Eurnekian, an Argentinian billionaire of Armenian descent who has extensive business interests in Armenia. With some 900 offices across the country, it not only provides traditional postal services but also collects utility payments and some taxes and duties, handles wire transfers of cash and even distributes travel insurance. Most state-owned Armenian companies were privatized in the 1990s and early 2000s. The private sector now accounts for more than 80 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product. Press Review "Haykakan Zhamanak" hits out at a parliament deputy from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) who decried earlier this week the introduction of a legal "system of corruption whistleblowing" on the grounds that it contradicts Armenian traditions. "We are sure that if this newly elected parliamentarian [Andranik Markarian] had known how shocking his words will be to people he would have immediately refrained from uttering them," writes the paper. It says that the Dashnaktsutyun leadership must enlighten Karapetian on "what it means to speak from the National Assembly rostrum, who listens to such speeches and what consequences they may have." "Aravot" says that Karapetian's remarks may be condemnable but they reflect a widely held belief in Armenia. "Although in theory we, critics, disagree with Andranik, in real life we usually do what the deputy described," editorializes the paper. "Zhoghovurd" reports that the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will arrive in Yerevan on Saturday at the start of a fresh tour of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. "The Karabakh peace process has slowed down of late," writes the paper. "The last major meeting took place in April in Moscow at the level of foreign ministers. Although there was talk of a meeting of the [Armenian and Azerbaijani] presidents there are still no agreements to that effect. The reason for the slowdown is not only Azerbaijan's refusal to fulfill [confidence-building] agreements reached in Vienna and Saint Petersburg [last year.] There is also another, more important reason." It notes that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the other day that the parties continue to disagree on "small but very important details" of a settlement favored by the mediators. "One of the details applies to the [proposed] referendum on Karabakh's status: its dates and the circle of eligible participants," continues "Zhoghovurd." "Indeed, these are small but very important details." "Hraparak" claims that Gevorg Kostanian, Armenia's former prosecutor-general and current representative to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), has warned against a lawsuit filed against an Armenian civic activist by 30 school principals who were tricked into admitting that they are campaigning for the ruling HHK in recent parliamentary elections. The paper says Kostanian warned the authorities that the ECHR could eventually rule against them if the activist, Daniel Ioannisian, is fined by Armenian courts. "But the supporters of organizing a judicial show prevailed and received the supreme leadership's go-ahead," it says. (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Sport: Andonian : « J’aimerais venir en Arménie avec ma famille »
SO FOOT, France
4 juin 2017
Habitué au banc de touche marseillais ou aux prêts (Dijon, PAE Veria), Gaël Andonian est devenu international arménien en mars 2015, alors qu’il avait tout juste 20 ans. Avant le match amical face à Saint-Kitts-et-Nevis dimanche à Erevan, puis le déplacement au Monténégro le 10 juin en qualifications pour la Coupe du monde 2018, le défenseur revient sur ce destin international qu’il n’avait pas vu venir, peuchère !
« J’essaie d’apprendre, mais c’est compliqué. Je connais quelques mots, qui me servent surtout sur le terrain. Dans le groupe, on communique plutôt en anglais. Quand je viens en Arménie, c’est pour quelques jours. Il y a les entraînements, les matchs… Cela laisse peu de temps pour me perfectionner en arménien. »
Ambassador of Japan: Karabakh conflict is not a conflict of two
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia Tuesday Ambassador of Japan: Karabakh conflict is not a conflict of two Yerevan May 30 Mariana Mkrtchyan. Japan supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co- chair countries in connection with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and looks forward to a peaceful solution based on the principles of international law. The Japanese Ambassador to Azerbaijan Teruyuki Katori stated this. "In my opinion, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a conflict, in which only two sides are involved. This issue should be more approached from the context of regional issues and geopolitics. It is very difficult to resolve this conflict between the two countries alone. For its settlement, it is necessary to cooperate with countries that have a relationship with it, neighboring countries and international organizations," the ambassador said in an interview with APA.
American doctor in Sudan awarded Aurora humanitarian prize
Associated Press International Sunday 8:17 PM GMT American doctor in Sudan awarded Aurora humanitarian prize YEREVAN, Armenia YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) - An American doctor who has spent years working in a fighting-ravaged region of Sudan has been awarded the $1.1-million Aurora Prize for exceptional humanitarianism. Dr. Tom Catena was presented the prize Sunday in Armenia's capital, Yerevan. The prize was established in remembrance of the Armenian survivors of a mass killing by Ottoman Turks. An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed in 1915-23 in what many historians regard as the first genocide of the 20th century, a claim that Turkey rejects. Catena, based in Sudan's Nuba Mountains, "is a role model to us all," said American actor George Clooney, co-chairman of the prize selection committee and a prominent advocate of recognizing the killings as genocide. The prize includes $100,000 for Catena and $1 million for him to donate to organizations of his choice. <span class="sewcqk7vkgct1nh"><br></span>
BAKU: Armenians ask God to help them invade Baku
News.az, Azerbaijan
Thu 12:20 GMT | 16:20 Local Time
Armenians suggest to capture Baku for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Oxu.Az referring to 1news.az.
To implement this "grandiose" plan, the representatives of the "most ancient" nation in the Caucasus pray for the God's help.
Arkadi Karapetyan, the first commander of the "self-defense forces" of the separatist regime created in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, made a similar statement in an interview with the Armenian media.
"I propose that we invade Baku and finally close the question. And to capture Baku, we must bring our nation in order. And that's exactly how it will be – no matter what people say, even regardless of the desires of the world hosts. They think that they decide, but they do not decide: it will be decided by the people, we will ask God to help us solve this issue," he said.