There is a trend of decline in number of shots at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border to a certain extent, Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Artak Davtyan told reporters at the defense ministry’s central assembly station.
“There is no major change at the borders. The ceasefire regime is mainly maintained. If we compare with the previous years, there is a trend of reduction in number of shots to a certain extent”, he said.
Turkish authorities filed a lawsuit against journalist Esra Solin Dal over charges of "being a member of a terrorist organisation" and "doing journalism against the state", pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya Agency reported on Friday.
Turkish police on Oct. 9 arrested Esra Solin Dal, a reporter of the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya Agency, along with 141 people in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. She was released later but the authorities launched an investigation into the detainees after the mass arrest. A court in Diyarbakır accepted the indictment prepared by the prosecutors immediately after the investigation.
During Turkey's military operation in northern Syria's Afrin last year, Dal asked appointment from the human rights organisations to get information on the child and women deaths that took place as a result of armed clashes. The indictmen called this "an activity in favour a terrorist organisation" and "a gross slander against the Turkish Armed Forces".
She also asked for an appointment from the Armenian musician Yervant Bostancı to speak on the Armenian Genocide and the indictment described it as "doing journalism against the state", Mezopotamya said.
The indictment concluded that Dal was working for Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), which Turkey sees as a component of the armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that waged a decades-long insurgency in the country.
Some of Dal's photographs from meetings, while she was reporting on the ground, were presented as evidence by the prosecutors to prove that she was attending illegal protests, the news agency said.
A Turkish prosecutor demanded a prison term between 7.5 and 15 years for the journalist.
Dal denied any links to the terrorist organisations. Speaking to Artı TV, Dal said Turkish police raided her home four times in the last two years.
"I was taken into custody several times. They charged me with different allegations every time. But after the Oct. 9 arrest, the prosecutor prepared a scandalous and tragicomic indictment against me " Dal told Artı TV. "This time, they blame me for allegedly working in the press committee of the KCK. I must say, this is completely tragicomic," she added.
YEREVAN.-Famous Armenian theater and cinema actor Rafael Kotanjyan became the victim of a robbery in the center of Yerevan, Shamshyan.com reported.
It was noted that Rafael Kotanjyan has filed a complaint with the police saying in the center of Yerevan unknown snatched bag from his hand.
An investigation is underway.
Gas tariff will not grow for consumers, Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in Facebook live video.
He said he had a phone conversation with president of Russia Vladimir Putin.
“We had talked about gas supply price for Armenia. I can say that we have reached arrangement over the issue,” Pashinyan said.
YEREVAN, December 31, /ARKA/. Russia's Gazprom said today that the price of natural gas it ships to Armenia across Georgia will be raised from the current $150 per one thousand cubic meters to $165. The new price is effective from January 1, 2019. The announcement was made following a meeting between Gazprom chief Alexei Miller and Armenia's acting deputy prime minister Mher Grigoryan in Moscow.
“In accordance with the supplementary agreement signed to the contract between Gazprom Export LLC and Gazprom Armenia CJSC, determining the price of gas supplies to Armenia in 2019, the price of Russian gas at the border of Georgia and Armenia will be $165 per one thousand cubic meters from January 1, 2019,' Gazprom said in a statement posted on its official website.
It also said that the contract between Gazprom Export and Gazprom Armenia CJSC on the delivery of 2.5 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas to Armenia is effective until the end of 2019. The statement says that Gazprom Armenia will continue consultations with the relevant state bodies of the Armenian government on the structure of domestic gas tariffs.
At the beginning of April 2016, Armenia and Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement, according to which Russia lowered the price of natural gas supplied to Armenia (at the border) from $165 to $150 per thousand cubic meters. This agreement expires on . Armenian media reports said earlier that the price of Russian gas might increase from January 1, 2019 to $215 per thousand cubic meters.
Armenia's acting prime minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a Facebook video today that although Russia will raise the price of gas for Armenia, but "thanks to some internal decisions the price of gas for consumers will not rise."
In September Nikol Pashinyan ordered creation of a task force that was to look into the factors and components that influence the price of Russian natural gas delivered to Armenia. During a September 8 meeting in the Kremlin Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to look into the pricing of Russian gas delivered to Armenia.
The Russian natural gas is delivered to Armenia by Gazprom at a $150 per one thousand cubic meters, but Gazprom’s Armenian subsidiary – Gazprom Armenia – sells it to Armenian households at almost $300. -0-
Armenia appoints Tigran Seiranian new Ambassador to Ukraine
16:41,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Tigran Seiranian has been appointed Armenia’s Ambassador to the Ukraine by President Armen Sarkissian.
From 2011 until today, H.E. Tigran Seiranian served as Armenia’s Ambassador to the Czech Republic. He also covered Slovakia .
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Fake football structure raves about another fake football tournament among unrecognized states.
The Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno Karabakh region expressed concern on December 24, over the holding of the European Football Cup 2019 next June by the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA) in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.
In this regard, the Azerbaijani community sent a letter to the President of the Confederation of Peru, Anders Blind. The letter expresses deep concern and anger of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in connection with the holding of the 2019 European Cup in the occupied Karabakh.
It is noted that the military aggression of Armenia led to the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands – Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.
The letter states that Armenia carried out a policy of ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories, including Nagorno-Karabakh. This policy has led to the fact that over a million Azerbaijanis have become refugees and internally displaced persons.
It is also emphasized that this ConIFA tournament violates the norms and principles of international law and contradicts the official position of the world community and international organizations supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan. This provocation is not only a threat to peace and stability in the region, but also damages the negotiations between the parties, the letter says.
The letter reminds that there is only one club representing Azerbaijanis from the occupied territories of the country and this is Qarabagh FC.
"At the moment, the club holds its home games away from Agdam, occupied and completely destroyed by Armenian troops in Baku. Despite the fact that FC Qarabagh is forced to be and play far from Agdam, the club became known throughout the world after participating in group UEFA Champions League stages," the letter stated.
Moreover, this provocative action not only promotes the illegal regime but also stimulates the manifestation of separatism and irredentism in the region destroyed by the Armenian occupation.
"Conducting this tournament in a region that is in a war, ConIFA and you, its president, are seriously responsible for the lives of tournament participants, foreign journalists and other media representatives, sending them to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan," the letter concludes.
Earlier, Azerbaijan Football Federation Association strongly condemned the holding of the European Championship, which is expected to involve 12 teams in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.
ConIFA World Football Cup is an international football tournament organized by the Confederation of Independent Football Associations for teams that are members of it. This tournament is also called “the world soccer championship among teams of unrecognized states”.
In fact, this tournament does not carry any official value. In Europe, there are two official structures that are authorized to hold or give the right to host world and continental championships. This is FIFA and UEFA. As of today, 206 officially recognized states are members of FIFA, which have the right to conduct and compete for participation in world and continental championships.
ConIFA is a structure that is not recognized by FIFA and UEFA.
Since 1992, Nagorno-Karabakh has been under the occupation of Armenian armed formations. Occupied Karabakh is not recognized by the international community, even by Armenia.
Il primo ministro armeno Nikol Pashinyan. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili
Yerevan – Come previsto, le elezioni anticipate tenutesi il 9 dicembre in Armenia hanno dato una maggioranza costituzionale a Il mio passo (70,42%), il movimento del primo ministro Nikol Pashinyan, in carica da maggio. La sua ascesa al potere è il frutto della “rivoluzione di velluto”, la grande rivolta popolare, andata in scena nei mesi di aprile e maggio, che ha spezzato il monopolio ventennale del Partito repubblicano, segnato dalla corruzione permanente e dal rapporto stretto con le oligarchie economiche.
LEGGI ANCHE : «Per l’Armenia è un nuovo inizio», ci spiega il presidente Sarkissian
Davanti alle proteste di massa, i repubblicani, la cui macchina partitica si è sovrapposta nel corso degli anni a quella dello Stato, hanno preferito fare il passo indietro. Serzh Sargsyan, il loro uomo forte, ex presidente, poi insediatosi come primo ministro al termine del secondo mandato (e questo è stato il casus belli della protesta), si è dimesso lasciando che Nikol Pashinyan fosse nominato alla guida del governo. In questi mesi, il leader della rivoluzione ha governato senza una vera maggioranza, con margini stretti. Così ha convocato le elezioni anticipate, per capitalizzare l’entusiasmo per la rivoluzione e riscuotere il plebiscito.
All’indomani delle elezioni del 9 dicembre abbiamo incontrato insieme a colleghi di altre testate europee Lena Nazaryan, esponente di primissimo piano di "Il mio passo", terza nella lista elettorale del partito, dopo Pashinyan e il primo vice premier Ararat Mirzoyan. Un colloquio a 360 gradi sulla politica armena, sui progetti per cambiare il Paese e su altri temi, questioni internazionali incluse.
Il vostro partito ha ottenuto un risultato notevole. I repubblicani sono fuori dal Parlamento. Le altre due uniche forze che saranno rappresentate sono Armenia prospera e Armenia luminosa, che nei mesi scorsi hanno appoggiato la protesta. Sarà un Parlamento senza opposizione?
«Questi due partiti hanno sostenuto i valori della rivoluzione e hanno combattuto insieme a noi il fenomeno atroce della corruzione. Sono inoltre impegnati, anche qui come noi, nella lotta alla povertà (il 30% degli armeni vive al di sotto della soglia di povertà, nda). Non c’è nulla di strano se abbiamo la stessa agenda. Ma è anche naturale che, dopo la prima fase della rivoluzione, ci si divida. Noi al governo, loro all’opposizione». Vedi mappa
Che tipo di partito è il vostro? Che orientamento ideologico ha?
«Non abbiamo dato mai enfasi alla direzione ideologica da assumere. Abbiamo sempre detto che ci collochiamo oltre le linee delle vecchie ideologie, perché nel mondo di oggi le ideologie sono svanite. Nel partito ci sono persone che hanno valori riferibili alle dottrine liberale, conservatrice e socialdemocratica».
Lei a quale vecchia famiglia politica si sente vicina?
«Direi socialdemocratica».
Come farete a conciliare queste visioni e sensibilità tra loro diverse?
«Gli approcci ai vari temi che si vuole affrontare sono logicamente differenti, ma alla fine sono convinta che ci comporteremo come una forza politica coesa. Bisogna discutere tra di noi e formulare un piano razionale per ogni dato fenomeno. Ci sono questioni in cui occorre essere più conservatori, altre in cui dobbiamo essere socialisti, altre ancora dove deve prevalere una soluzione liberale».
Ci fa un esempio di un campo in cui dovrete essere socialdemocratici?
«L’economia. Prima della rivoluzione, il sistema economico dipendeva da quello politico. Ogni sfera dell’economia era corrotta. Oligarchi e politica detenevano il monopolio sugli investimenti, sul commercio e su molte altre cose. Chi faceva parte di questo sistema si è arricchito moltissimo, comprimendo le possibilità di crescita per il resto della società. Ora noi vogliamo che le opportunità siano per tutti. Vogliamo dare vantaggi a chi ha sofferto per via delle precedenti politiche, in particolare le piccole aziende. Pensiamo di tagliare le tasse, del tutto, per quelle che non superano una certa soglia di fatturato (si discute di porre a 400 euro mensili il netto, nda)».
Azzerare le tasse potrebbe anche sembrare una politica liberista, non trova?
«No, al contrario: se fossimo soltanto liberisti, taglieremmo le tasse e la storia finirebbe lì. Qui invece il progetto è quello di alleviare il carico fiscale per dare opportunità a chi prima non ne aveva, perché le risorse erano concentrate nelle mani di chi era parte del sistema. Stiamo in sostanza redistribuendo risorse».
Gli oligarchi hanno dominato a lungo l’economia. Non spariranno certo dalla scena. Intendete regolare i conti con loro?
«Non toglieremo agli oligarchi le loro proprietà, lo abbiamo detto dall’inizio. Non possiamo farlo, non è legale. Però ci sarà un ricalcolo sulle tasse. Ciò che non è stato versato verrà restituito. Questo processo è già in corso. Ovviamente, bisognerà sempre dimostrare con prove certe e basi legali ogni evasione, ogni illecito. C’è poi l’idea che chi in passato si è arricchito illegalmente possa restituire qualcosa allo Stato. L’ex capo delle dogane, Armen Avetysian, ha per esempio donato un hotel (il Golden Palace resort, tra Erevan e il lago Sevan, valore 10-15 milioni di dollari, nda). Ci sarebbero le prove che fu edificato in modo improprio. Infine, puntiamo sulla creazione di un’agenzia anti-corruzione con tre funzioni: prevenzione, educazione e poteri investigativi».
Farete qualcosa anche per i lavoratori?
«In Armenia esistono i sindacati e ci sono leggi che ne regolano l’attività. Ma nel complesso i sindacati non funzionano come dovrebbero e i diritti dei lavoratori non risultato protetti. Ciò avviene perché le imprese non li mettono a contratto, per non pagare tasse. Dobbiamo modificare o rafforzare le regole sui sindacati e sul lavoro. Pensiamo anche di alleggerire la quota di contributi a carico del lavoratore»
Avete in mente qualche altro intervento sociale?
«Sì, la nostra intenzione è che la sanità sia pubblica, per lo meno per quelle terapie necessarie per la cura di malattie gravi. Per esempio, al momento le famiglie dei bambini malati di tumore sono costrette a pagare una serie di farmaci necessarie per le cure, dieci in tutto. Noi li renderemo gratuiti. Li pagherà lo Stato».
L’Armenia è una società molto conservatrice e voi avete già detto che nei confronti della comunità Lgbt non ci saranno aperture. È questo uno dei casi in cui sarete conservatori?
«Rispettiamo le libertà e i diritti di tutti, non approveremo mai leggi discriminatorie nei confronti di certi gruppi. Però è vero che certi temi possono creare disaccordo e noi non vogliamo che la solidarietà ora presente nella nostra società sia compromessa da certe discussioni. Ricordo inoltre che i nostri avversari, durante la campagna elettorale, hanno usato strumentalmente questo tema per attaccarci, sostenendo che noi vogliamo concedere diritti, per legge, alla comunità Lgbt».
Quindi se la comunità Lgbt chiedesse di organizzare un gay pride vi opporreste? «Probabilmente sì. Anche alla luce di quanto successo anni fa in Georgia, quando ci fu una marcia gay. La gente e alcuni preti ortodossi attaccarono i partecipanti. Non vogliamo minimamente che questo accada. Se permettessimo una marcia, migliaia di persone si radunerebbero in piazza chiedendoci di vietare queste iniziative. È una questione di tempo. La nostra società non è ancora pronta per queste cose. Noi, a ogni modo, non discrimineremo nessuno».
L’Armenia è un Paese molto legato alla Russia, con la quale ha accordi commerciali militari, che Pashinyan non ha intenzione di mettere in discussione. Però il Paese vanta buoni rapporti anche con l’Unione Europea…
«Sia i giornalisti occidentali che quelli russi, quando pongono questo tema, lasciano come intendere, mi sembra, di non credere all’autenticità della rivoluzione. Ma per davvero: l’abbiamo fatta noi, senza l’aiuto di nessuno!».
Non lo mettiamo in dubbio. Vorremo però sapere se la partnership con l’Unione Europea, firmata nel 2015 dal precedente governo, verrà sviluppata? Fa parte del vostro programma?
«Puntiamo certamente a dare attuazione a quegli accordi con l’Ue. Non escludiamo, inoltre, che le relazioni con l’Europa vengano ulteriormente approfondite, con la negoziazione di nuove intese in campi quali cultura e istruzione».
La Turchia sostiene l’Azerbaigian, con il quale resta aperta la questione del Nagorno-Karabakh, fazzoletto di terra armeno situato all’interno dei confini azeri, per il quale l’Armenia combatté una guerra negli anni '90, vincendola. Che prospettive ci sono, in termini diplomatici, sia con Ankara che con Baku, con le quali non avete relazioni?
«Abbiamo già detto che siamo pronti ad aprire il confine con la Turchia, senza porre condizioni. Se ciò accadesse, si creerebbero grandi opportunità. Per quanto riguarda l’Azerbaigian, come si sa la situazione non è buona. Ma Pashinyan e il presidente azero Ilham Alyev si sono di recente accordati per garantire un effettivo cessate il fuoco lungo la frontiera tra Nagorno-Karabakh e Azerbaigian. E l’accordo tiene, per ora. Quanto ai negoziati di pace sul Nagorno-Karabakh, per noi è importante che il governo locale (il Nagorno-Karabakh è uno stato de facto, nda) torni al tavolo dei negoziati, come accadeva anni fa, prima che il secondo presidente dell’Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, decidesse di rappresentare direttamente gli interessi del Nagorno-Karabakh. Crediamo che non si possano prendere decisioni senza la sua partecipazione. In questo, vogliamo operare una rottura con la prassi degli ultimi anni». Vedi mappa
Trump call with Turkish leader led to US pullout from Syria
By MATTHEW LEE and SUSANNAH GEORGE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria was made hastily, without consulting his national security team or allies, and over strong objections from virtually everyone involved in the fight against the Islamic State group, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.
Trump stunned his Cabinet, lawmakers and much of the world with the move by rejecting the advice of his top aides and agreeing to a withdrawal in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, two U.S. officials and a Turkish official briefed on the matter told The Associated Press.
The Dec. 14 call, described by officials who were not authorized to discuss the decision-making process publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, provides insight into a consequential Trump decision that prompted the resignation of widely respected Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. It also set off a frantic, four-day scramble to convince the president either to reverse or delay the decision.
The White House rejected the description of the call from the officials but was not specific.
“In no uncertain terms, reporting throughout this story is not true,” National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said. “It is clear from the context that this false version of events is from sources who lack authority on the subject, possibly from unnamed sources in Turkey.”
The State Department and Pentagon declined to comment on the account of the decision to withdraw the troops, which have been in Syria to fight the Islamic State since 2015.
Despite losing the physical caliphate, thousands of IS fighters remain in Iraq and Syria, and the group continues to carry out insurgent attacks and could easily move back into territory it once held if American forces withdraw.
The Dec. 14 call came a day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu agreed to have the two presidents discuss Erdogan’s threats to launch a military operation against U.S.-backed Kurdish rebels in northeast Syria, where American forces are based. The NSC then set up the call.
Pompeo, Mattis and other members of the national security team prepared a list of talking points for Trump to tell Erdogan to back off, the officials said.
But the officials said Trump, who had previously accepted such advice and convinced the Turkish leader not to attack the Kurds and put U.S. troops at risk, ignored the script. Instead, the president sided with Erdogan.
In the following days, Trump remained unmoved by those scrambling to convince him to reverse or at least delay the decision to give the military and Kurdish forces time to prepare for an orderly withdrawal.
“The talking points were very firm,” said one of the officials, explaining that Trump was advised to clearly oppose a Turkish incursion into northern Syria and suggest the U.S. and Turkey work together to address security concerns. “Everybody said push back and try to offer (Turkey) something that’s a small win, possibly holding territory on the border, something like that.”
Erdogan, though, quickly put Trump on the defensive, reminding him that he had repeatedly said the only reason for U.S. troops to be in Syria was to defeat the Islamic State and that the group had been 99 percent defeated. “Why are you still there?” the second official said Erdogan asked Trump, telling him that the Turks could deal with the remaining IS militants.
With Erdogan on the line, Trump asked national security adviser John Bolton, who was listening in, why American troops remained in Syria if what the Turkish president was saying was true, according to the officials. Erdogan’s point, Bolton was forced to admit, had been backed up by Mattis, Pompeo, U.S. special envoy for Syria Jim Jeffrey and special envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition Brett McGurk, who have said that IS retains only 1 percent of its territory, the officials said.
Bolton stressed, however, that the entire national security team agreed that victory over IS had to be enduring, which means more than taking away its territory.
Trump was not dissuaded, according to the officials, who said the president quickly capitulated by pledging to withdraw, shocking both Bolton and Erdogan.
Caught off guard, Erdogan cautioned Trump against a hasty withdrawal, according to one official. While Turkey has made incursions into Syria in the past, it does not have the necessary forces mobilized on the border to move in and hold the large swaths of northeastern Syria where U.S. troops are positioned, the official said.
The call ended with Trump repeating to Erdogan that the U.S. would pull out, but offering no specifics on how it would be done, the officials said.
Over the weekend, the national security team raced to come up with a plan that would reverse, delay or somehow limit effects of the withdrawal, the officials said.
On Monday, Bolton, Mattis and Pompeo met at the White House to try to plot a middle course. But they were told by outgoing chief of staff John Kelly and his soon-to-be successor Mick Mulvaney that Trump was determined to pull out and was not to be delayed or denied, according to the officials. The trio met again on Tuesday morning to try to salvage things, but were again rebuffed, the officials said.
The White House had wanted to announce the decision on Tuesday — and press secretary Sarah Sanders scheduled a rare briefing specifically to announce it. But the Pentagon convinced Trump to hold off because the withdrawal plans weren’t complete and allies and Congress had not yet been notified, according to the officials. The first country aside from Turkey to be told of the impending pull-out was Israel, the officials said.
Word of the imminent withdrawal began to seep out early Wednesday after U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Joseph Votel started to inform his commanders on the ground and the Kurds of the decision.
Following the official announcement the White House emphasized that the U.S. will continue to support the fight against IS and remains ready to “re-engage” when needed. But in a tweet, the president said U.S. troops would no longer be fighting IS on behalf of others.
“Time to focus on our Country & bring our youth back home where they belong!”
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Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed from Ankara, Turkey.