Author: Tania Jagharian

The Central Electoral Commission reports that 842,147 citizens or 40.99 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot in the Yerevan City Council elections as of 11:00.

The voter turnout by administrative districts:

Ajapnyak – 45.29%
Avan — 52.75%
Arabkir — 38.82%
Davtashen — 43.67%
Erebuni— 40.70%
Kentron —38.52%
Malatia-Sebastia – 33.28%
Nor Nork -41.04%
Nork Marash — 50.67%
Nubarashen – 52.66%
Shengavit — 46.54%
Kanaker-Zeytun –33.23%

Three forces were running in the election – Yelk bloc, Yerkir Tsirani Party and Republican Party of Armenia.

Armenia makes it to the Grand Final of 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. Artsvik represents the country with the song “Fly With Me.”

Tonight the first Semi-Final of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Kyiv, Ukraine. In total 18 countries competed for 10 places in the Grand Final.

The ten qualifiers were (in the order they were announced): Moldova, Azerbaijan, Greece, Sweden, Portugal, Poland, Armenia,
Australia, Cyprus and Belgium.

Armenian Foreign Ministry Spokesman has Baku for “abusing the OSCE principle of consensus” and “opposing the whole organization.”

“Due to its extremely destructive stance Azerbaijan finds itself in a total isolation. OSCE Chairmanship, participating States, Secretariat support activities of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, and it is solely Azerbaijan that abuses the OSCE principle of consensus, singlehandedly blocking the decision on the continuation of activities of the OSCE office in Yerevan thus opposing the whole Organisation,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tigran Balayan said.

The comments come in the wake of the announcement of lack of consensus over the extension of mandate of OSCE Office in Yerevan

“Today, the Representative of the OSCE Austrian Chairmanship delivered a statement at the Permanent Council meeting announcing that despite exerted efforts, it has not been possible to reach an agreement on the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. As at the Permanent Council meeting in January, also today the Austrian Chairmanship praised the constructive efforts of Armenia aimed at finding a solution to the issue. Likewise, the constructive approaches of Armenia were commended by other participating States,” Balayan said in comments to News.am.

The Armenian Delegation to the OSCE made a statement reflecting on all steps undertaken by Armenia together with previous – German and current – Austrian Chairmanships aimed at ensuring the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. Armenian side recalled actions of Azerbaijan aimed at closing the Office which increasingly enhanced, although the OSCE Austrian and the German Chairmanships clearly refuted Azerbaijani false allegations targeting the Office.

After closing the OSCE Office in Baku and blocking also the activities of the Office in Yerevan, Azerbaijan deprives the OSCE of fully-fledged presence in the South Caucasus, which will have a detrimental impact not only on the activities of the Organisation in our region but the OSCE as a whole and its structures.

All efforts by the Austrian Chairmanship and the participating States to make Baku  act constructively and refrain from hampering the activities of the OSCE Office in Yerevan have failed.

Both in foreign and domestic policies Azerbaijan on a daily basis violates the principles and commitments of the OSCE, including fundamental freedoms and as a result faces constant international criticism. Now again by impeding and challenging the OSCE activities, Azerbaijan scores another failure, thus deepening the gap between itself and the international community.

As an active OSCE participating State, Armenia will continue to contribute to the realisation of the OSCE goals. We will consider new avenues of implementing OSCE projects in Armenia as have been also proposed by participating states at the Permanent Council.

The Colorado State Legislature adopted a resolution recognizing the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Members of both the House of Representatives and Senate voted unanimously to adopt the resolution at the capitol on Wednesday.

The states:  “We express support for efforts toward constructive and durable relations between the country of Armenia, the homeland for the 22 Armenian people, and its neighbors, based upon acknowledgment of the facts and ongoing consequences of the Armenian genocide, and a fair, just, and comprehensive international resolution of this crime against humanity.”

“We, the members of the Colorado General Assembly acknowledge April 26, 2017, and April 26 of each year thereafter, as “Colorado Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide”; and that we express support for efforts toward constructive and durable relations between the country of Armenia, the homeland for the Armenian people, and its neighbors, based upon acknowledgment of the facts and ongoing consequences of the Armenian genocide, and a fair, just, and comprehensive international resolution of this crime against  humanity,” the resolution states.

“Shocked” Borussia Dortmund players will “pull together” when they face Monaco, 24 hours after their team bus was damaged by explosions in Germany.

Defender Marc Bartra fractured his wrist in the incident, which led to Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg being postponed.

The match has been rescheduled for Wednesday, with a 17:45 BST kick-off.

“In such a crisis situation, all of Borussia will pull together,” said chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke, the reports.

“The team and coaches were shocked. Now we must channel it in some way.”

Dortmund said Bartra had an operation on Tuesday after “breaking the radial bone in his arm and getting bits of debris lodged in his hand”.

The 26-year-old, who has played 12 times for Spain, joined Dortmund from Barcelona in June last year.

Captain Marcel Schmelzer said: “We’re all in shock and our thoughts are with Marc. We hope that he will make a speedy recovery.”

The bus was damaged at 18:15 BST on Tuesday – 90 minutes before kick-off – when it was about six miles from the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund.

Police said there were three explosions in the vicinity of the coach. They called it “a targeted attack” and found a letter at the scene, but did not disclose its contents.

They are preparing for a “large deployment” at the rescheduled game.

Levina, Germany’s representative for Eurovision 2017, has shared a Video of her singing the Armenian song “Kakavik.”

Levina accepted a challenge from Armenia’s entrant Artsvik, who sang the German song “Das Wandern ist des Müllers Lust” earlier.

On Tuesday Artsvik announced she’ll continue to pull the past into today by recording a series of covers of traditional songs.

She uploaded a short clip, where she revealed how the Eurovision 2017 theme “Celebrate Diversity” inspired her to launch the series of covers. She’s also challenging artists from around Europe to perform their own covers of Armenian folk songs of their choice.

The Armenian Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources and the Ocean Holding LLC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, the Development Foundation of Armenia reports.

The cooperation will work towards developing the renewable energy sector in Armenia and will enable the Ocean Holding to make investments in solar energy projects.

Starting this year, Ocean Holding intends to invest 100 million USD in solar photovoltaic power plants in Armenia and operate them using the best technology available to the sector.

In return, the Ministry pledges to create favourable conditions for Ocean Holding. The investments will be made in several phases.

“Armenia has created favorable conditions for renewable energy; the country has invested its entire toolset to boost the sector. The Government continues to seek new opportunities to increase energy security to ensure supply, energy efficiency, new investments, new technologies, regional cooperation and a sustainable infrastructure,” Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructure and Natural Resources Hayk Harutyunyan said at the Armenia-UAE investment forum in Abu Dhabi.

The Azerbaijani forces used firearms of different calibers,including sniper rifles, as they violated the ceasefire more than 30 times at the  line of contact with Karabakh forces last night, firing over 550 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions, Artsakh Defense Ministry reports.

The Azeri forces used Instiglal and SVD sniper rifles in the  eastern direction and a 82 mm mortar in the northeastern direction of the line of contact.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep the situation under control and confidently continue with their military duty, Artsakh Defense Ministry said in a statement.