Author: Toneyan Mark

Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan had a meeting with Philippe Boillat, Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Council of Europe.

The parties agreed to deepen the joint cooperation and implement new programs in the field of protection of the rights of people in detention and servicemen and others. They attached importance to the work with the civil society and journalists.

Arman Tatoyan and Philippe Boillat discussed the issue of extradition of Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin.

The Armenian Ombudsman noted that “decision on his extradition is of political nature, poses a direct threat to the freedom of speech and creates an impermissible precedent.” “It’s a harsh violation of the European human rights protection system,” Tatoyan said, adding that “journalists’ visits to Artsakh cannot be subject to any persecution.”

According to the Ombudsman, the case comes to prove the need to make visits to Artsakh more frequent and intensify the involvement of the Artsakh Ombudsman and the civil society in international processes.

The Ombudsman handed over the report on the consequences of the Azeri attack on Armenia’s Chinari village to Philippe Boillat.

Jose Mourinho moved a step closer to a major trophy in his first season as Manchester United manager as goals from Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini secured a first-leg victory over Hull City in the semi-final of the EFL Cup, the BBC reports.

A near full-strength United struggled to break down resilient Hull in a first half in which the hosts had just two shots on target – Mata forcing a good save out of goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic, who also tipped over Paul Pogba’s long-range effort.

The visitors had chances of their own against a side who had won their eight previous games in all competitions, Robert Snodgrass causing problems from set-pieces.

However, Mata got the breakthrough just before the hour mark when he tapped in from Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s knockdown.

Substitute Fellaini scored a second late on, heading in from Matteo Darmian’s cross to put United in command heading into the second leg on 26 January.

 

 

 

There have been no changes in the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the process of settlement of the Karabakh issue, says Alexander Iskandaryan, Director of the Caucasus Institute.

“They are busy with minimizing the risks, rather than resolving the conflict,” Iskandaryan told a press conference today.

According to the political scientist, the reason is the difference between the stances of the parties on the conflict settlement, which makes it impossible to propose a solution acceptable to all.

“The latest fit into the logic of avoiding tension,” Iskandaryan said.

According to political scientist Stepan Grigoryan, the Co-Chairs’ statement can inspire Azerbaijan to resort to new provocations, because they see that their actions go unpunished.

According to Alexander Iskandaryan, there are two ways Azerbaijan can have an influence on the Karabakh conflict settlement. “The first option is lobbying and propaganda. The second means for Azerbaijan to attract the attention of Armenia and the international community is to shoot,” the political scientist said. Therefore, he’s concerned that the situation will still continue.

As for the perspectives of resumption of military actions, Alexander Iskandaryan says “it depends on oil prices, on whether Azerbaijan can afford it or not, because the country spent huge sums in April.”

—Astronomers from the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory in Armenia have discovered a strong outburst of the embedded young stellar object (YSO) designated UKIDSS-J185318.36+012454.5. This newly detected event could provide important insights for the understanding of eruptive variability of young stars. The researchers presented their discovery in a paper published Dec. 30 on the arXiv preprint server.

UKIDSS-J185318.36+012454.5 is located in the vicinity of the IRAS 18507+0121 source and probably belongs to the massive star-forming region associated with GAL 034.4+00.23 HII region. The object is at least 5,000 light years away from the Earth and its neighborhood contains massive protostars with an age of about 100,000 years, as well as a low-mass stellar population approximately 1 million years old. The stellar object was classified as an intermediate mass YSO less than 100,000 years old.

Recently, a team of researchers led by Elena Nikoghosyan has combed through the data and images provided by the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii to search for evidence of outbursts in star-forming regions. They used the archival infrared and submillimeter data from UKIRT Galactic Plane Survey (UKIDSS GPS) and found that an outburst occurred in UKIDSS-J185318.36+012454.5 in the period of 2004-2006.

“UKIRT Galactic Plane Survey is a deep survey with good space resolution. Therefore, it provides very useful information for researchers who study star forming regions. In particular, for detection of UKIDSS-J185318.36+012454.5 outburst, UKIRT Galactic Plane Survey was the basic source of information,” Nikoghosyan told Phys.org.

According to the paper, the amplitude of brightness of the detected outburst is at least five mag. The object remained at this level of brightness until 2014.

The results of the research allowed the scientists to re-classify UKIDSS-J185318.36+012454.5 as an eruptive variable with mixed characteristics, namely a MNor-type object, and Nikoghosyan emphasized the significance of the study.

“Eruptions of pre-main sequence stellar objects are rare events, thus a new outburst is always noteworthy. And I think that the discovery of a new eruptive variable UKIDSS-J185318.36+012454.5 with a so strong outburst (delta K > 5 mag) was a big success,” she said.

The authors of the paper also sought the most plausible explanation for eruptive variability of young stars. They noted that several physical mechanisms, such as rotation, cool or hot spots, accretion-driven wind and outflow can explain the near-infrared variability, but these mechanisms often produce short-term variability with amplitude that is not expected to exceed one mag in the K band.

“In our opinion, all of the proposed explanations of this phenomena to date (eruptive variability of young stars) do not explain it completely, most likely due to lack of information. With respect to this object, we can only assume that this outburst corresponds to the transition between two evolution stages: Class 0 (no optical and near-infrared emission) and Class I (generally optically obscured). But this is only an assumption,” Nikoghosyan concluded.

The researchers now plan further observations of UKIDSS-J185318.36+012454.5. However, these studies could only be conducted in collaboration with scientists from other countries due to the fact that in Armenia, there is no opportunity to observe this object in the infrared range

It’s not yet clear whether the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet in Hamburg or not, Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told a press conference ta the Media Center today.

Speaking about “James Warlick’s decision to steps down as OSCE Mink group Co-Chair was not unexpected, he was replaced as his term in office had expired.”

“Let’s not overestimate the role of persons appointed by co-chairing countries,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said. He added that each country has its policy line, which does not change with the change of individuals.

“In case of the US, there are established institutions, expert groups, long-developed policy, and abrupt steps are unlikely even considering the change of the President,” Shavarsh Kocharyan said. He added however, that some shifts in this or that direction are possible, considering that the President has greater liabilities than the Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

According to him, the Armenian parties have never avoided meetings, but we have always expected progress from those meetings.

“Progress in talks  is impossible, unless the agreements reached in Vienna and St. Petersburg are called to life. It is impossible to expect progress in the negotiation process as long as the threat of resumption of war is there, as long as there is lack of trust between the parties, as long as the Azeri forces are firing along the line of contact and organizing provocations,” Shavarsh Kocharyan said.

According to him, there is one clear reason behind the lack of progress in talks. “For years the Azerbaijani side has been using the negotiation process as a cover for its policy of spreading propaganda built on the distortion of the essence of the conflict, to present it as a territorial dispute without referring to the issue of self-determination, to prepare  a fertile ground for a military solution in the future,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said.

Secondly, he said, the April events came to reject the perceptions of the Azeri side. “They thought the two Armenian states were weakening and getting poorer at the time, when Azerbaijan was building its military capacity thanks to oil dollars. April showed that the Blitzkrieg they had planned simply failed,” he said. He added that the results of a second such attempt will be more painful for the Azerbaijani side.

Speaking about the lack of targeted criticism on the part of the mediators, the Deputy Foreign Minister said: “The Co-Chairs have two missions – to help the parties reach an agreement  and to prevent the resumption of military actions.”

According to Shavarsh Kocharyan, the best security guarantee for the Armenian side is to rely upon itself. Speaking about the military balance in the region, the Deputy Foreign Minister said “balance does not mean only the ratio of weapons. It refers not only to human potential, the types of weapons, but also other factors such as the liberated territories, the location of those territories, and most importantly, the fighting spirit and unity.” On the other hand, he said “it would be naive to ignore the impact of contemporary weapons on the balance.”

“Azerbaijan has had a serious progress in terms of purchasing contemporary weapons, but as a counterbalance we have Smerch systems, TOS-1A Multiple Rocket Launchers (Solntsepek) and Iskander missile systems,” the Armenian Deputy FM said.

He said there are two ways to prevent the arms race. The first option is to reach a peace deal through negotiations. The second scenario, he said, is the unleashing of war by Azerbaijan, but added that the possibility of a military solution gradually tends to weaken.

PHOTO: YUG/SHUTTERSTOCK

 

The , an essential resource that advises how to spend your time and money, ranks Armenia among the 13 easy countries for English speakers to travel. Excerpts from the article are provided below:

How many people speak English: 40%

What it’s like as an English speaker: Although bordered by Turkey and Iran, this cradle of Christianity on the western edge of Asia remains Europe’s final frontier and a blessing to English-only speakers. Armenians get languages: The country enjoys a 98% literacy rate, and most Armenians under 30 speak English with flair — often with a British accent (many attend schools there and it percolates). Although Americans rarely visit Armenia, Europeans do, so instead of translating a dozen languages for them, road signage, menus, and venues are also in English. Chances are high you’ll meet someone who knows where you’re from (they all have relatives living in the States), and you probably already know someone with Armenian roots. Eighty percent of Armenian surnames end in either -ian or -yan — think Washingtonian, Smithsonian, or OK, sure, Kardashian.

What Armenia has to offer: Picture ancient Europe but cooler and way cheaper. This Connecticut-sized country has thousands of mind-boggling monasteries and churches, several of which are uncrowded UNESCO World Heritage Sites. High living is low-cost; you can go to a world-class opera for the price of a movie ticket, while cabs, cafés, wine, beer, and groceries are enjoyed at 1960s US prices. It’s also on the legendary Silk Road, with one still-standing Armenian motel, Orbelian’s Caravanserai, built in 1331, where road-warrior merchants and their caravan-pulling animals rocked medieval happy hours, and so should you.

Other countries in the list include: Tanzania, Germany, the Philippines, Slovenia, Nepal, Cuba, Japan, India, Belize, Pakistan, Singapore and Malta.

Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited  Armenian serviceman Arsen Baghdasaryan, who has been in Azerbaijani captivity December 2014, Azeri Media report, quoting the Communication Department of the ICRC Baku Office.

Arsen Baghdasaryan was handed a message from his family. The family will be informed about his conditions.

Portugal’s former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has been officially appointed as the next UN secretary general, the BBC reports.

Mr Guterres, 67, will become the world’s top diplomat on 1 January when Ban Ki-moon’s second five-year term ends.

The Portuguese, who led the UN refugee agency UNHCR for 10 years, was chosen from among 13 candidates last week.

He said he would fulfil his role with gratitude and humility.

Mr Guterres, who trained as an engineer, entered politics in 1976 in Portugal’s first democratic election after the “Carnation revolution” that ended five decades of dictatorship.

As head of the UNHCR refugee agency from 2005 to 2015, he led the agency through some of the world’s worst refugee crises, including those in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

During that time, he repeatedly appealed to Western states to do more to help refugees fleeing the conflicts.

The Nagorno Karabakh issue may be touched upon on the sidelines of the meeting of CSTO Foreign Ministers in Yerevan scheduled for October 14, Spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova told a weekly briefing.

Referring to US Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement on the impossibility to solve the Karabakh conflict at this point, Zakharova said: “The settlement process benefits from practical work, not statements.”

The delegation headed by Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimyan participated in the 67th session of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees held in Geneva October 3-7.

Opening remarks by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon were followed by UNHCR Filippo Grandi’s speech.

Referring to the global challenges related to refugees, Ashot Hovakimyan pledged Armenia’s willingness to continue the effective cooperation with the UNHCR Office to address the needs of displaced people and support the refugees and asylum seekers.

The Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister referred to the issue of Armenian refugees, who have been forced to leave their homes in Azerbaijan because of the latter’s policy of ethnic cleansing. He presented the Azerbaijani military aggression against Nagorno Karabakh unleashed in April this year, which was accompanied by harsh violations of international humanitarian law.

Ashot Hovakimyan noted that Armenia has provided refuge to more than 20 thousand Syrian refugees, being the third country in Europe with the number of Syrian refugees hosted.

In response to Armenia’s delegate’s speech, High Commissioner Filippo Grandi noted that the UNHCR Office will maintain support for the solution of problems displaced people face. He attached importance to the soonest resolution of the Karabakh conflict and expressed his support to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ efforts.