US President Joe Biden on Tuesday declined to offer details about his one-on-one meeting with Turkish President Recep Erdogan, saying he’d let the Turks talk about it, the Daily Mail reports.

“We had long discussions and I feel very good about our meeting. I’ll let the Turks tell you about it,” he told reporters when he arrived at the Europa Building for meetings with European leaders.

Both Biden and Erdogan have remained upbeat about their session even though they did not announce any major break throughs with several areas of tension in their relationship.   

“We had a positive and productive meeting, much of it one-on-one,” Biden said at his press conference Sunday night.

“Our teams are going to continue our discussions and I’m confident we’ll make real progress with Turkey and the United States,” he added.

Erdogan called the talks “productive and sincere.”

‘We think that there are no issues between U.S. and Turkey relationship that are unsolvable and that areas of cooperation for us are richer and larger than problems,’ he said.

Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest military, angered other members of the alliance by buying Russian surface-to-air missiles and intervening in wars in Syria and Libya. It is also in a standoff with Greece and Cyprus over territory in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Washington removed Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program and imposed sanctions over Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missiles. 

Turkey, meanwhile, has offered to guard and operate Kabul airport after U.S. and NATO forces withdraw in coming weeks but Erdogan said they will need US assistance in order to do so. 

‘If they don´t want us to leave Afghanistan, if they want a (Turkish) support there, then the diplomatic, logistic and financial support that the United States will give us will of great importance,’ Erdogan said at a press conference after their meeting.

At Monday’s NATO session, Erdogan gave President Biden an awkward fist bump and stroked his arm when they met for the first time since the US officially recognized the Armenian genocide. 

Erdogan rose from his seat and smiled at the president’s badly-timed gesture before engaging in a long conversation surrounded by aides ahead of their official bilateral meeting later on Monday.

The pair seemed cordial despite Erdogan’s fury over Biden’s announcement in April that his administration would call the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians during the First World War a genocide. 

It is a moment that could be potentially embarrassing for the Turkish president who has never shied away from condemning the West.

They met after Biden said NATO is facing “new challenges” from China and Russia and stressed his “sacred obligations” to allies ahead of his summit with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

The Turkish president has made it clear he will let Biden know the president’s statement on the Armenian genocide “disturbed and upset us”.

An ally country taking such a stance on an issue that has nothing to do with NATO, the issue of Armenians, has disturbed and upset us. It is not possible to go on without reminding (Biden of) this,” Erdogan said in comments before traveling to the summit.

He said he would also raise the White House recognition of the 1915 massacres of Armenians during the then Ottoman Empire as “genocide.”

Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces in World War One, but denies the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute genocide. After years of debate in Washington, the White House in April released a statement on the historical event that resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million.  

“There is a slight power dynamic showing as in the first photo when Erdogan is half seated half standing. Erdogan leans forward and bows his head slightly to the standing President Biden as they fist bump. Erdogan, pat on the back is a normal inclusion signal in Turkish culture in other cultures that may show paternal comfort. Still, here it means, ‘You are one of us,” body language expert Patti Wood told DailyMail.com. 

The tense meeting is part of many Biden is holding at his first NATO summit as American president. 

He met with the leaders of three Baltic nations to reassure them of US support before his Wednesday summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.

“It was a constructive warm vigorous engagement with the three leaders,” a senior administration official told reporters on a briefing call.  

The president sat down with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas of Estonia, President Egils Levits of Latvia, and President Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania and ‘underscored strong US support’ for their security, according to the White House.

“The four leaders committed to further strengthening our political, military, and economic partnerships, including working together through NATO to address challenges posed by Russia and China,” the administration said in a statement.

The meeting of the second President, Robert Kocharyan, and former Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan took place Tuesday at the election campaign headquarters of the “Armenia” bloc, which is led by Kocharyan.

A number of programs and projects to be implemented in the near future were discussed, the bloc informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

A few days ago Karapetyan issued a statement urging to vote for Kocharyan in Sunday’s snap parliamentary elections. In his turn, Robert Kocharyan had stated that in case of his victory in the voting, he will ask Karen Karapetyan to return to Armenia.

ETCHMIADZIN. – In the framework of the election campaign [ahead of the snap parliamentary elections in Armenia on June 20], the acting Prime Minister and the candidate for Prime Minister of the ruling Civil Contract Party, Nikol Pashinyan, continues to voice unjust accusations against the Armenian Church. The Information System of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin noted this in a statement.

“The attitude of the incumbent authorities towards the Church and national-spiritual values is known to our people. The behavior manifested by the Acting Prime Minister towards the Church and the clergy should be viewed in this context.

The Armenian Church, despite all kinds of obstacles and the attitude of the authorities, will continue to unwaveringly carry out its soul-saving and nation-preserving mission in the life of the Armenian people,” the statement also reads.

National Hero of Armenia Monte Melkonian was killed 28 years ago today.

Monte was a thinker and a writer, as well as a man of deeds. He was not afraid to speak the truth as he saw it.

Throughout his lifetime he struggled for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the protection of the rights of Armenians.

Monte Melkonian was born in California’s San Joaquin Valley on November 25, 1957. A trained archaeologist who spoke eight languages, he spent his entire adult life working for justice and defending Armenians in Iran, Lebanon, and Armenia.

Melkonian was known as Avo to the troops under his command in Nagorno-Karabakh. The last years of his life were spent fighting with the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army.

He believed that the the only real future for Artsakh would be to unite with Armenia. His messages about the importance of Artsakh for Armenia resonate over time.

Monte was killed in the village of Merzili, Aghdam (Akna) in the early afternoon of June 12, 1993.

After death he was awarded the highest military honors of Nagorno Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia, including the Military Cross, First Degree and the Golden Eagle medal.

Monte was buried with full military honors on June 19, 1993 at Yerablur Military Pantheon in the outskirts of Yerevan, where his coffin was brought from the Surb Zoravar Church in the city center.

In 1993 the Monte Melkonian Military Academy was established in Yerevan.

A recent survey by GALLUP International Association in Armenia has revealed the opposition’s increasing chances of success in the lead-up to the snap parliamentary elections slated for June 20.

Armenia Alliance, led by second President Robert Kocharyan, turned out the most popular political force with 24.1% supporters, showing slight advantages over Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party (23.8%), the organization’s director, Aram Navasardyan, told reporters. 

He added that the latest opinion polls also revealed an increase in the opposition bloc’s rating by 3.5% – as opposed to the 1.4% for the ruling party.

“I Have the Honor ranks third as 7.4% of voters are inclined to vote in their favor. Prosperous Armenia has 3.7% and Bright Armenia – 3.1% [of supporters],” Navasardyan said, adding that an estimated 9.2 of respondents gave zero preference to any alliance or party.

The new millionaires of the Republic of Armenia (RA): Acting Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Suren Papikyan became a millionaire on asphalt business in three years. This was reported by Yerevan Today.

The website writes: This government still accuses all former officials of being soaked in corruption, despite the fact that they are much more impudent in both robbing and entering “shares,” making purchases from one person; I am sure they take kickbacks. However, as the salary increase, which was secretly tripled in one day, secretly from the people, wrote bonuses to themselves, as if it was legal, it became clear to everyone that this government is much more impudent, it robs the budget money legally, not caring that before how it criticized the previous governments for every penny. So, now I will present a version of how a specific corruption deal is concluded with the sponsorship of a specific official, and what is worse, before that, such conditions are created that a lot of money can be generated from that deal.

Let’s start. Based on the estimate documents for the construction of highways, the process of “technical quality control of construction” in 2019 was actually reformulated into the process of providing “engineering control and consulting” services.

At the same time, the cost of the service for technical control defined by the order of the RA Minister of Urban Development was changed in 2008 instead of 1% of the estimated value of the defined object, in 2019 it became 5%. Moreover, if before 2019 the 1% was included in the estimated value, then after the change made in 2019, that amount was 5% and was included in the state budget as a separate expenditure item, being written off from the estimated value.

That is, it turns out that during the previous “robbers”, 1% allocation was included in the budgets from the state budget to check the asphalting works, during these “nobles” that percentage was changed and became 5%.

And the most interesting thing is that by the №1085-N decision of the RA Government of June 25, 2020 and RA Minister of Territorial Administration S. Papikyan’s direct lobbying, a very important new order was confirmed. The RA Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure was allowed to obtain technical control services through a one-person procurement procedure from Cox Consult company, as well as the list of roads were defined for which the same Cox Consult company was to carry out construction technical quality control by the lobbying of RA Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure S. Papikyan.

Let’s continue. Then, according to the appendix to that decision of the RA Government, again the same Cox Consult company in 2020 would carry out technical control over the quality of construction of 143.45 km long interstate, national and provincial motorways.

Let’s move on to the numbers. The expenditure item “Improvement of the Road Network” of the 2020 state budget stipulates 83.3 billion AMD, whereas by the same item of the 2021 state budget—more than 66 billion AMD.

Let’s imagine only in 2019 the 5% set for technical control by RA Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure S. Papikyan and let’s compare it with 83.3 billion AMD in 2020 and 66 billion AMD in 2021.

Not limited to all this, on April 22, 2021, after the signing of the capitulation, in the conditions of internal political crisis, extreme socioeconomic problems, non-return of our prisoners of war, this government did not shy away from making a decision on Cox Consult again—already engaging it even in the North-South [road corridor] program.

That is, 5% of the 149.3 billion allocated for asphalting only in 2020-2021 is 7.465 billion AMD, which in turn is more than 14,355,000 (14 million) [US] dollars at today’s expensive exchange rate. It turns out that this government has asphalted roads not for the population to travel on good roads, but for Suren Papikyan and others to make money.

In fact, it turns out that Papikyan Suren has already become a dollar millionaire in 2020.

Once Armenia’s democratic hope, Pashinyan is now calling for “vendettas” and to “replace his velvet mandate with a steel one.” And he’s not the only candidate using that kind of language.

When Nikol Pashinyan came to power in Armenia in 2018, he did so on the promise of a “non-violent, velvet, popular revolution.” Now, as he faces a difficult reelection campaign, his rhetoric has hardened and he has promised a “vendetta” against his opponents.

He is not the only leading candidate to use violent rhetoric in the heated campaign ahead of the June 20 election, and some observers are warning about the danger posed by such language in Armenia’s polarized post-war society.

At a June 8 rally in Aragatsotn province, Pashinyan recalled that when he came into power he did so promising that he would not carry out retributions against officials from the authoritarian regime he toppled. Now, though, he said the situation is different and that he will punish public officials who use their office to undermine him.

“Go to polling stations and replace our velvet mandate with a steel one, and you will see political vendettas, and you will see civil vendettas, and you will see staff purges,” Pashinyan told the crowd. While he took pains to clarify that he didn’t mean literal physical violence, the aggressive language still alarmed many.

“I am telling you now straightforwardly and clearly: There will be vendettas after the elections against those local authorities who try to coerce people,” he said.“I don’t care if an organization is private or public, those organization leaders who coerce their employees in any way will be subject to the most cruel, but political vendetta.”

Pashinyan is facing a large slate of challengers in the early elections, which were called after a long political crisis following the country’s disastrous defeat in last year’s war with Azerbaijan. The discourse has been heated from many sides.

In late May, Pashinyan invited two of his main challengers, Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharyan – both former presidents – to a debate. Both rejected the invitation.

Kocharyan specified on June 5 that he was not interested in a debate but would be ready for a duel. “With any type of weapon,” he added.

Pashinyan responded to the challenge at a meeting with his supporters on June 8. “I will destroy you with my words, my heart, my mind and the people’s support. Say the date and place, take whatever weapon you want, and I will come with the people, and we will slaughter you in a political sense,” Pashinyan said.

On the same day, a priest appeared at a rally for the Kocharyan-led “Armenia” coalition. The priest, Aharon Melkumyan, said that when Pashinyan was leading the 2018 protests that would eventually sweep him to power, he had offered to “put a sack on [Pashinyan’s] head and lose him before he destroys Armenia.”

Personal insults also have been flying in many directions.

Pashinyan said he does not consider Kocharyan “a man”: “Robik, you nothing, you are nobody.” Serzh Sargsyan, another former president who supports the “I have honor” coalition centered primarily around the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia, called Pashinyan “immoral” and threatened to “slaughter” him.

This is not the first time Pashinyan has drawn criticism for his violent language. In September 2018, four months after coming to power, he threatened to “put on the asphalt” the bodyguards of oligarchs, a threat that became notorious. In April 2019, he expanded on the threat, telling “those who would try to solve problems with violence” that he would “not only put them on the asphalt but throw them against the wall.” (If the irony was apparent to him, he did not let on.)

But in this tense period, with political polarization at its peak, the rhetoric is causing particular alarm.

Ter-Petrosyan, in a June 7 speech to supporters laying out his party’s program, said that the upcoming elections are going to be “the most dangerous in the Armenian history.” Pashinyan and Kocharyan are both desperate for power, he added, and the fact that they both command large resources makes the situation “explosive․”

In response to the heightened rhetoric, some are calling for a cooling off.

The country’s Ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, issued a statement on June 9 expressing concern over the campaign’s tense atmosphere: “This deepens the polarization in society and undermines the prospect of restoring solidarity in the country.”

“The real danger of such rhetoric is that it further exacerbates the existing tension, and carries dangerous risks for it to carry over into real life,” Tatoyan warned. He argued that while Pashinyan had specifically mentioned he was not talking about physical revenge when he spoke of “vendetta,” that “did not neutralize the dangerous influence of what he said.”  

United States-based human rights organization Freedom House also expressed concern over the violent campaign rhetoric. “These actions drive destructive polarization and hate speech as the country prepares for historic parliamentary elections,” the organization wrote in a tweet.

The United States is very concerned by recent developments along the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, including the detention of six Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces and the recent death of two journalists in a land-mine incident, Acting Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip T. Reeker told reporters in Azerbaijan.

“Too many lives have been lost in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and we are concerned the situation at the border could escalate. We call on both sides to resolve these incidents urgently and peacefully. The United States considers any movements along the non-demarcated areas of the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan to be provocative and unnecessary. We reject the use of force to demarcate the border and call on both sides to return to their previous positions and to cease military fortification of the non-demarcated border and emplacement of landmines”, Mr. Reeker said.

He said the United States urges the sides to return as soon as possible to substantive negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to achieve a long-term political settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. 

“The United States will continue to work with international humanitarian organizations, as well as our Allies and partners, to meet humanitarian needs in the region.  But only through a peaceful settlement of the conflict can the people of the South Caucasus truly thrive and prosper”, the Acting Assistant Secretary said.  

An independent Ukrainian pollster on Monday presented a recap of his organization’s recent pre-election survey in Armenia, highlighting major advantages for the political opposition compared to Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s party.

Nikolay Spiridonov, a political analyst who heads the Kiev-based public development centre Inter-Akcia, said their preliminary polls in Yerevan revealed 16.3% supporters for Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Partry as opposed to the 21.6% for the Armenia Alliance (led by second President Robert Kocharyan) and the 10.8%  – for I Have the Honor bloc (led by Artur Vanetsyan, a former director of the National Security Service).

As for the other political forces vying for parliament, some 10.8% of the respondents turned out to have given preference to Gagik Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia party (PAP), with another 4.6% – to Edmon Marukyan’s Bright Armenia. First President Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s Armenian National Congress (ANC) and the radical opposition group Sasna Tsrer (Daredevils of Sasoun) received 1,7% and 2.1%, respectively, Spiridonov said, adding that 22.6% appeared to be still hesitant.

The ruling political force appeared to have the highest number of potential voters in the regions – 27.3%, followed by Armenia Alliance (14.1%), I Have the Honor (8.2%), Prosperous Armenia (6.1%), Bright Armenia (3.7%), Sasna Tsrer (1.3%), ANC (0.7%).

The majority of the respondents – 63% – said they expect the domestic political situation to stabilize after the elections; another 18% expressed the contrary position.

As for the major tasks of the future National Assembly and cabinet, 73% pointed out to national security, 12% – economic concerns, 7% – fight against corruption.