Category: 2017

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
November 13, 2017 Monday


Turkish citizen arrested for attempted drug trafficking of 100kg
heroin through Armenia to Georgia



YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The national security service of
Armenia issed a statement regarding the heroin smuggling attempt from
Iran, in response to media requests.

The NSS said a criminal case was launched on July 10, 2017.

The NSS said the 105kg 100g brutto and 101kg 830g 160g netto weight
heroin was packaged in 204 bricks in Iran, hidden in a cargo vehicle.
Later, three ethnic Kurdish people hired a Turkish national, a driver
engaged in international transportations, to ship the narcotics to
Georgia through Armenia.

On July 9, 2017, the cargo vehicle entered the Armenian border,
however the attempted smuggling was prevented by border officers.

According to initial information, the heroin was planned to be further
shipped to Europe by ship, in a destination controlled by a
transnational drug trafficking organization.

The driver has been charged and detained.

The investigation is still ongoing.

In addition to the abovementioned cases, the NSS has investigated 8
criminal cases on drug trafficking – confiscating 2kg of heroin, 3kg
meth, and 14kg apion.

The smuggling attempts were made from Iran, USA, Turkey, Netherlands.

Armenpress News Agency, Armenia
November 13, 2017 Monday


Ethnic Armenian founding members of new Turkish political party under
media spotlight



YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. A new Turkish political party,
called Iyi partisi – meaning Good Party, the founder of which is
former defense minister Meral Aksener, is seriously contending for
entering the parliament in the upcoming elections. Many have withdrawn
from the Nationalist Movement party to join the ranks of this new
party.

Turkish media have recently focused on the fact that two Armenians are
among the founding members of the party.

One of them is Elmas Kirakos, member of the founding council of the
party. In an interview to a local media, he said: “I go to church, I
know my God. I am Armenian and I will never hide my identity. I am a
citizen of Turkey, however my ethnicity is Armenians”.

Turkish media have focused particularly on the Armenian origin of the
other founding member, mentioning that his ethnicity has been
attempted to be hidden. According to Turkish media, Taylan Yildiz, the
co-chair of the party, has Armenian ethnicity. Yildiz has worked for
Google and is known as the “genius son” of Google.

Meral Aksener is expected to the main rival of president Erdogan
during the upcoming elections.

Armenpress News Agency, Armenia
November 13, 2017 Monday


Armenian parliament speaker receives French senator Christophe-André Frassa



YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS.The President of the National
Assembly of Armenia Ara Babloyan received the Member of the Senate of
the Republic of France Christophe-André Frassa on November 13.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Nation al
Assembly of Armenia, welcoming the Senator's visit to Armenia, Ara
Babloyan touched upon the Armenian-French relations, and the
historical-cultural centuries-old ties between the two peopleslaid
inits basis.

Ara Babloyan documented with satisfaction the development of the
inter-parliamentary relations existing between the two countries,
underlining the significant contribution of the Friendship Groups to
that issue.

The Head of the parliament touched upon the problems of the fight
against terrorism, the issues regarding the strengthening of peace in
the world and uniting the efforts of Francophone countries in these
problems.

Christophe-André Frassa noted that the National Assembly of Armenia
and the two Chambers of the French Parliament closely and dynamically
cooperate.

By the Senator's assessment, the two peoples' friendship has a
centuries-old history and today is at high level.

Christophe-André Frassa referred to the Summit of the Francophonie
International Organisation to be held in Armenia next year,
emphasizing that event for both France and Armenia.

The French Senator especially underlined the importance of the
meetings of the Francophone countries' heads which should go on in
parallel with the very Summit.

At the end of the meeting Ara Babloyan and Christophe-André Frassa
discussed organisational issues concerning the holding of the Summit
of the Francophonie International Organisation.

The Head of the Armenian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of
La Francophonie (APF) Margarit Yesayan also took part in the meeting.

Armenpress News Agency, Armenia
November 13, 2017 Monday


By questioning the legitimacy of Artsakh's right to self-determination
Azerbaijan puts the legitimacy of its independence under doubt



YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Vice President of the National
Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov assesses drawing parallels
between Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the processes in Kurdistan and
Catalonia illogical. In an interview with ARMENPRESS Sharmazanov,
commenting on the statement of the deputy speakerofthe Azerbaijani
parliament Bahar Muradova, saying that the international community
should display one and the same approach towards the mentioned three
processes instead of applying double standards, emphasized that they
are totally different cases and it’s a sign of being uneducated to
draw parallels between Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the processes in
Kurdistan and Catalonia.

“How can one draw parallels between those three processes? They are
three totally different cases. The process of self-determination of
Nagorno Karabakh is fully legal and legitimate. It fully complies with
both the Constitution of the Soviet Union and the norms of the
international right. Years ago Nagorno Karabakh used its right to
self-determination in compliance with the same legal norms of the USSR
Constitution that were used by the other 15 republics. The USSR
Constitution allowed autonomous subjects to decide their own fates by
a referendum, something that Nagorno Karabakh did. And today if
Azerbaijan is questioning the legitimacy of Artsakh’s right to
self-determination, it puts the legitimacy of its own and the other
post-Soviet states’ independence under doubt” Sharmazanov said.

As refers to Muradova’s discontent over the activities of the OSCE
Minsk Group Co-chairs, and her opinion about the necessity to change
the negotiation format, the Vice President of the parliament of
Armenia stressed that Azerbaijan pours water into Turkey's watermill,
which tries to become a mediator in Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement process by all means. “But that will never happen. Turkey
has no place in OSCE MG format since that country overtly supports one
of the conflicting sides, Azerbaijan – something that questions
Turkey’s impartiality as a mediator. Besides, Ankara is famous in the
region for its unconstructive polices. And not only I speak about
that, but also Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who emphasized
following the April war that Turkey makes calls for war but not for
peace”, Sharmazanov said.

Associated Press State & Local
November 13, 2017 Monday 8:16 PM GMT


Talk about vintage: Pottery shards show 8,000-year-old wine

By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer


DATELINE: NEW YORK

NEW YORK (AP) - Talk about vintage wine: Pieces of broken pottery
found in the nation of Georgia provide the earliest known evidence for
the origins of today's winemaking industry.

The eight shards, recovered from two sites about 30 miles (50
kilometers) south of Tbilisi, are roughly 8,000 years old. That's some
600 to 1,000 years older than the previous record, revealed by a wine
jar found in nearby Iran.

It's not the oldest sign of winemaking; other evidence shows that a
beverage that mixed grape wine with rice beer and other ingredients
was produced as long as 9,000 years ago in China.

But the Chinese drink used a wild grape that has apparently never been
domesticated, while the Georgian wine used a Eurasian grape species
that did undergo domestication and led to the vast majority of wine
consumed today, said researcher Patrick McGovern.

It's not clear whether the ancient Georgian vintners were using a
domesticated form, but it's possible because they apparently made lots
of wine, he said.

McGovern, from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology
and Anthropology in Philadelphia, is part of an international team
that produced the new report. The findings were released Monday by the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new analysis showed the shards had absorbed the main chemical
fingerprint of wine, tartaric acid, as well as some other substances
associated with the beverage. The shards had come from jars that were
probably used for fermentation and storage.

The study was largely financed by the National Wine Agency of Georgia.
The nation continues to produce wine and considers it part of the
national identity.

"It is very interesting that during this 8,000 years there was no
interruption of wine-making tradition," said Shalva Khetsuriani, head
of the Sommelier Association of Georgia.

The finding is "very significant" because it gives new evidence that
the origins of winemaking should be sought in the region, said Gregory
Areshian, an archaeology professor at the American University of
Armenia who did not participate in the work. In 2011, Areshian
reported the discovery of a 6,000-year-old winery in Armenia.

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Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
 Tuesday


Birth anniversaries of Komitas and Hovhannes Tumanyan included in
UNESCO calendar



YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The 39th sitting of the UNESCO
General Conference, which is proceeding in Paris in the headquarters
of the organization, adopted a decision to include the 150th
anniversaries of Komitas and Hovhannes Tumanyan in the 2018-2019
UNESCO calendar of renowned people and important events, the foreign
ministry told ARMENPRESS.

UNESCO approved the bids of Armenia, which was presented with support
from France and Germany.

Since 1998, 23 anniversaries submitted from Armenia have been included
in the UNESCO list.