EU has no official position on Turkish Prime Minister's Recep Tayyip Erdogan's proposal on the formation of a joint commission of historians for the investigation of the fact of the events of 1915», EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Heikki Talvitie stated today. {BR} In his opinion the issue should be discussed by Armenia and Turkey. «If two parts come to an agreement the EU will not object», he said and added that Turkey's EU...

Today during the meeting with RA National Assembly Speaker Arthur Baghdasarian EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Heikki Talvitie showed interest in the process of adoption of constitutional amendments in Armenia. {BR} «I hope the draft will be ready in the near future. The society should get familiarized with the amendments before the draft is put to referendum. We also pay attention...

“I was not scheduled to meet with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister in Frankfurt. There was no need in that meeting. We exhausted our authority a month ago. Now it is time for the Presidents to take steps”, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan stated today.{BR} The RA FM noted that his next meeting with Elmar Mamedyarov will be held in Poland and the terms are being fixed at present. When...

“After the rose revolution our attention was focused at Georgia, but I should note that Armenia and Azerbaijan are equally significant for the EU”, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Heikki Talvitie told journalists today. {BR} During the meeting the RA top officials and Mr. Talvitie focused discussions at three urgent issues, these being the RA-EU relations, Karabakh conflict...

The parliamentarians proceeded to the hearings of the constitutional draft submitted by Arshak Sadoyan. The deputy started his speech with pointing out to the necessity of forming a system state and noted that the coalition’s draft providing for wide authority to the President will not change anything in the republic. He also binds it with the existence of "some Amalyans" who could close "A1+"...

Two criminal cases on money laundering were initiated in Armenia. The first one was initiated with the data provided by the US special services on an Armenian citizens who illegally transferred $1 million 300 thousand to some Armenian banks. The second one is the case of the Credit Yerevan Bank referring to the individual bills to the sum of $250 million, which could be turned into cash in different...

«Everyone is interested in having much authority and little responsibility», Rafik Petrosyan, who presents the coalition's constitutional draft in the parliament stated adding that they have done their best to establish the mechanism of pressure resistance. {BR} NA Deputy Arshak Sadoyan stated that only 5-6% of the proposals made by the Venice Commission were adopted. ULP members were active as...

The Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier on Citizenship, Mr John Hatzistergos today condemned the removal of a plaque in Meadowbank, commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. {BR} The plaque, which was installed on April 24, 2005, the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide - has been forcibly removed from Memorial Park, Meadowbank. It is unknown who has removed...

Today the Prime Minister and several Ministries were not present in the NA question-answers to the Government; they were abroad on business trips. The opposition was rather passive too; only Aram Sargsyan, son of Gaspar had questions to the Government, about allotting office to his party, and Tatoul Manaseryan. The questions of the other delegates were mainly directed to the Urban Development Minister....

Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan informed «A1+» today that his meeting with the co-chairs will take place in close future. It will possibly take place before the meeting of the Presidents. Vardan Oskanyan's meeting with the co-chairs will take place in Poland, but the data, the schedule and the scope of discussion is not yet known. {BR} Nevertheless, Vardan Oskanyan informed that the situation in...

This morning Catholicos Aram I had a telephone conversation with Lebanon President Emil Lahood. The main theme of the conversation was the “Delegate electoral Code” amended in 2000. Let us remind you that according to that code the places allotted to the Armenian delegates in the Lebanon Parliament had been reduced. {BR} Catholicos Aram I expressed his disagreement with the law and said the one...

«We speak about high mathematics without having any idea of arithmetic». This is the opinion of NA delegate Shavarsh Kocharyan about the course of RA Constitutional amendments. According to him, the failure of the 2003 Constitutional referendum made it clear how the constitutional amendments should not be done, but the process is continuing. {BR} According to the foreseeing of the delegate, the...

Today RA NA President Arthur Baghdasaryan received the Belgium Foreign Minister special representative and permanent representative of Belgium to OSCE Bertran de Krombrug. Vladimir Pryakhin, head of the OSCE office in Armenia was also present at the meeting. {BR} It was mentioned during the meeting that Armenia meets his commitments, the Constitutional amendments are being discussed in the Parliament,...

In the combat against terrorism the innovations of the Georgian authorities follow one another. Convinced that one of the most corrupted structures is the court system, in March the Georgian Government has adopted a decision. According to the document, all those judges who will confess their being involved in corruption will not be sued. Moreover, resigning from work their salary will be preserved...

The most significant difference between the «Judge International Third Conference» organized in Georgia this year and those organized previously was that the event was no longer presided by Georgian Supreme Court President Lado Chanturia. At present he is replaced by Konstantin Kublashvili. Mr. Chanturia is one of the few representatives of the Georgian Court system who has a very good reputation...

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Youth fraction and the student union “Nikol Aghbalyan” have made today an announcement which refers to the latest letter of the Armenian Youth Party with Sargis Asatryan at the head to the Turkish Prime Minister Rejeb Tayip Erdoghan. In the letter written on behalf of all the young people of Armenia it is mentioned, “Mr. Prime Minister, there has been an Armenian Genocide, nevertheless, today’s Turkey...

The OSCE Minsk group Co-chairs are not going organize the meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents on May 9 in Moscow. OSCE Minsk group co-head Yuriy Merzlyakovhas informed the Azerbaijani agency «Apa» about it. The negotiations with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov on April 27 in Frankfurt were appreciated by Merzlyakov as very useful, «We did good work». {BR} At present the co-chairs are doing preliminary work to...

Today at 12:40 p.m. the discussion of the three draft constitutions started in the NA. Right away Rafik Petrosyan, head of the NA Standing Committee on state and legal affairs, is representing the coalition draft to the delegates. By the way, when Arthur Baghdasaryan announced while representing the draft that the authors are the three members of the coalition and the fraction «Democratic Delegate»,...

Freedom House for three years already rates the press in Armenia as “Not Free”. “That is from the moment A1+ TV Company was closed”, Justice faction deputy Grigor Harutyunyan reminded during the NA hearings. {BR} In his words, A1+ was closed after calling the events in Aragast café not “an incident” but “a homicide”. Grigor Harutyunyan also reminded...

Turkish delegates in PACE collected 90 signatures under the appeal to Robert Kocharyan to reply to Recep Tayyip Erdogan's letter. Vice Speaker blamed our press for spreading information that PACE called the Armenian President to answer the letter.{BR} Tigran Torosyan also called the initiative backward, as the request was made on April 28, while Robert Kocharyan sent his reply letter on April 25....

When touching upon the Commission on Nagorno Karabakh conflict during today’s press conference, Armenian National Assembly Vice Speaker Tigran Torosyan states that the opinion that the Commission will replace the OSCE Minsk Group is erroneous. {BR} According to the demand of the resolution adopted at the PACE January Session, a commission composed by the representatives of the conflicting parties...

“We will by all means press for the opening of “A1+”, chairman of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia Avetik Ishkhanyan stated today. In his words the depriving of A1+ of air is the flagrant violation of freedom of speech in Armenia and April 2, the day of the company closing – is a symbolic day of the limitation of freedom of speech. {BR} April 2-May 3, 5750 Armenian citizens...

In 2005 the press foe is the state system. This is the resolution of the National Press Club announces at the ceremony of conferring the title of the foe of press. The action was started in 2002, when Robert Kocharyan was bestowed with the title for launching struggle against freedom of speech. {BR} In 2003 the title was conferred to NA deputy Hranush Hakobyan for spreading misinformation (on the...

The World Press Freedom Day was marked today in the UN Yerevan Office together with the Yerevan Press Club. According to YPC head Boris Navasardyan, today people gathered not only to mark the achievements but also to discuss the failures of the press. In his words, the investigations say that press in Armenia concentrates on the political events and pays too little attention to social needs, thus arousing...