Tremor near Armenia-Georgia border measures magnitude 6-7 at epicenter

July 12, 2016 By administrator

tremor near border YEREVAN. – The earthquake, which was recorded in Armenia on Tuesday afternoon, felt a magnitude of 3 in capital city Yerevan.

Hrachya Petrosyan, head of the “Survey for Seismic Protection” Agency of Armenia, told the aforementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The quake occurred at 2:14pm local time, nearby the Armenia-Georgia border, 13 kilometers northeast of Bavra village and rural community in the Shirak Province of Armenia.

“The earthquake was recorded magnitude 4.7,” said Petrosyan. “Its center was 10 kilometers deep; it was felt magnitude 6-7 at the epicenter.”

The tremor was felt magnitude 4-5 in the northern part—Gyumri, Vanadzor, Stepanavan, and Alaverdi towns—of Armenia.

Turkish border guards kill 9 Syrian refugees

June 19, 2016 By administrator

Syrian refugees are seen at the Bab al-Salama refugee camp, near A’zaz, Syria, next to the Turkish crossing gate, February 6, 2016. ©AFP

(Presstv) Turkish border guards have killed nine members of a Syrian family, who were trying to cross the frontier and take refuge in the neighboring country.

The deadly incident took place near the village of Kherbet Eljoz in Syria’s Idlib Province on Saturday night as the Turkish forces opened fire on the refugees, leaving eight more Syrians injured.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source told The New Arab news website that the victims were among several families displaced from the city of Jarablus in Syria’s Aleppo Province.

“Turkish border guards opened fire on them indiscriminately, killing nine people and wounding eight others,” the source said, adding that the dead were “all from one family – three children, four women and a man,” who fled Jarablus due to fighting.

It was not the first time that the Turkish border guards employed force against Syrians uprooted from their homes, with activists saying that at least 50 asylum seekers have been killed on the Turkish border in the past few months.

Back in May, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report that in March and April 2016, five people, including a child, were killed and 14 others were seriously injured as a result of Turkish soldiers’ shootings and beatings.

Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at the New York-based rights organization, said the Turkish soldiers are “killing and beating” refugees.

“Firing at traumatized men, women, and children fleeing fighting and indiscriminate warfare is truly appalling,” he added.

Turkey, however, rejected the accusation, claiming that it is welcoming Syrian refugees.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. Damascus regards a number of countries as the main supporters of the militants fighting the government forces in the Arab country.

Turkey, which is hosting 2.7 million Syrian refugees, closed its borders to the asylum seekers around a year ago, but permitted entry for critical medical cases and humanitarian organizations.

Ankara and the European Union sealed a contentious agreement in March in a bid to tackle Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II.

Under the deal, the 28-nation bloc will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from the country and in return will reward Ankara with money, visa exemption and progress in its EU membership negotiations.

Ankara is known as a staunch supporter of the terrorist groups operating to topple the Syrian government.

Islamic State fighters capture Syrian territory near Turkish border

May 27, 2016 By administrator

Islamic State fighters captured territory from Syrian rebels in an area near the Turkish border on Friday, May 27 and were close to cutting off an insurgent-held town, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported, according to Reuters.

The jihadists seized a number of villages around the town of Marea, north of Aleppo, and had almost fully encircled it, the British-based monitoring group said.

The advance also brought them closer to Azaz, a town 6 km from Turkey. Rebel groups battling Islamic State in the area, which Washington sees as strategically vital, have been supplied with weapons via Turkey.

Russia demands the closure of the Turkish-Syrian border (Lavrov)

March 1, 2016 By administrator

arton122770-480x272 Geneva, March 1, 2016 (AFP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday demanded the closure of the Turkish-Syrian border to cut off the supply of ‘terrorists’ routes, including through humanitarian convoys.

“There is no place for terrorists and extremists, either in the cease-fire, not in a political process” in Syria, Lavrov said before the Council of Human Rights ‘UN Rights in Geneva.

“A very special task is to cut off the supply of terrorists from outside. To achieve this, it is important to close the border between Syria and Turkey, because through it, these gangs receive arms, including through humanitarian convoys, “he said.

The head of Russian diplomacy stressed that a “massive defeat (jihadist organization) Islamic State (…) and the Al-Nosra Front (Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda) is a necessary prerequisite for preserve the rights of the Syrian people who have suffered too much. “

“To improve the humanitarian situation in Syria is one of the key priorities of the UN, he said. However, the resolution of humanitarian problems and restoration of the country destroyed by war will be possible only by maintaining a sustainable cease-fire and the establishment of a intersyrien dialogue on the future of the country, which must be decided by the Syrians themselves, without outside interference. “

On Monday, UN teams delivered aid to a besieged Syrian cities for the first time since the beginning of the ceasefire between rebels and regime generally respected despite some accusations of violation.

The ceasefire agreement was negotiated and concluded with the support of the UN, Moscow and Washington. At a Tuesday meeting in Geneva, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon thanked Lavrov for his “important role in the recent progress on Syria,” said a statement.

“They agreed on the importance of urgently and simultaneously advance the implementation of the cessation of hostilities agreement, the delivery of vital humanitarian assistance to civilians and the return to political negotiations,” added the document.

Jihadist movements, which control more than half of Syria, are not included in the truce agreement. The UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, convened all Syrian parties to a new round of talks on March 7 in Geneva.

Tuesday, March 1 2016
Ara © armenews.com

Karabakh, Intensive shooting continued last night at the border of Upper Karabakh

December 21, 2015 By administrator

arton120103-480x270 Tension remains high in the contact area on the Armenian-Azeri border in Nagorno-Karabakh. Last night-despite the promises of Aliev in Bern to stop the violations of the cease-fire- Azeri continued to pound the Armenian positions using high caliber weapons and mortars. More than 1,700 projectiles of various sizes were fired towards the Armenian troops. Armenians responded to the shooting and removes many of these sources.

Krikor Amirzayan

Armenian: New kinds of tunnels to appear on highway near Iranian border

December 20, 2015 By administrator

default YEREVAN. – By the end of December or beginning of January 2016, the tender on the new section of Armenia’s North-South Highway will be announced. Armenia’s first Deputy Minister of Transport and Communication Artur Arakelyan told the aforementioned to Armenian News – NEWS.am today.

The tender will be announced for the construction from the southernmost point of the Iranian border to the Armenian town of Kajaran. In the framework of the 4th tranche of the project, the 20,5 km section will be constructed by the $150 loan of the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB).

A tunnel construction is intended for this section. “The tunnel is planned to be constructed near Kajaran, but already in the framework of another tranche,” he said.

The Ministry doesn’t give up the idea of making a number of the road sections paid (including tunnels and bridges). The private investors are offered to invest into complex infrastructures and exploit them for fee. The only mandatory condition is to preserve an alternative free road, even if the latter is lengthier and more complicated.

The 4-lane “North-South” concrete highway will reduce the time of moving from the Iranian to Georgian border, as well as decrease the 556 km distance to 495 km at the expense of leveling a number of mountainous sections and constructing new and more direct ones (from Ararat town through Vanadzor province to Noravan village of Armenia’s Sisian region, and from there to Kajaran town). The total cost of the construction will be about $960 mln, the main project donor being the Asian Development Bank (ADB) (approx. $500 mln).

Bulgaria shuts border with Turkey: Prosecutor, most people wish if it stay close forever to stop Turkish terrorist

December 13, 2015 By administrator

AFP photo

SOFIA – Agence France-Presse

Bulgaria on Dec. 13 shut its busy border crossing with Turkey as 14 customs officials were detained in an anti-corruption raid, chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said.

“All customs officers from the morning shift, who control the entries into Bulgaria at the Kapitan Andreevo (border checkpoint) were detained within a probe against contraband,” Tsatsarov told public BNR radio.

“We apologise to travellers” over the closure, he said, adding that traffic from Bulgaria to Turkey was flowing uninterrupted.

Kapitan Andreevo is the largest and busiest border checkpoint in the Balkans and a major crossing point on the route between Europe and the Middle East.

BNR reported that a queue a dozen kilometres long of trucks, waiting to enter Bulgaria, had formed the Turkish side.

Bulgaria’s state security agency DANS conducted about 100 raids in five towns close to the border, Tsatsarov added, without giving further details about the aim of the raids.

The radio meanwhile said the probe was targeting a major cigarette smuggling ring.

Bulgaria’s position at Europe’s exterior border makes it a major crossroads on the route of goods smugglers and human traffickers.

Migrants are also regularly caught at Kapitan Andreevo and other checkpoints, trying to cross into Europe hidden inside trucks.

Cigarette smuggling is another lucrative business with a major ring dismantled last March.

Armenia-Azerbaijan Border tension reaches highest point – Seyran Ohanyan

December 9, 2015 By administrator

The situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and on the Line of Contact is under proper control, Armenia’s Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan told reporters as he answered Tert.am’s question about the situation on the border after Azerbaijan opened tank fire at the Armenian positions.

“Tension has actually reached its highest point. They are firing not only small arms, but also mortars. In the south-eastern section of Artsakh they also opened tank fire. Those were not pointed strikes. This is the enemy’s tactic of destabilization,” Mr Ohanyan said.

Azerbaijan’s step could not only cause foreign policy problems, but also result in domestic political one.

“The Middle East situation could be a reason for the two presidents’ meeting as in many respects it involves our region. I want our people to be sure we have developed containment mechanisms,” Mr Ohanyan said.
In response to Tert.am’s question as to the reasons for Armenia not applying to international organizations – the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and UN Security Council – as Azerbaijan has repeatedly applies heavy weapons, Mr Ohanyan said:

“We are dealing with a neighbor that does not understand human speech. A dialogue requires a ceasefire and mutual arrangements. An international investigation can identify the guilty party. It is time for serious work to ensure serious work to develop mechanisms for international investigations for specifically addressed assessments to be made.”

Speaking of his talk with Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Mr Ohanyan said he had informed Mr Kasprzyk of the situation.

The Armenian side showed restraint during the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan.

“However, our referendum [on constitutional reforms] caused a 4-5-day-long tension. That prevented many of the commanders from leaving the positions to [vote in the referendum],” Mr Ohanyan said.

Turkey: Tense wait continues in Kilis after Russian air strikes hit aid convoy near Turkey border

November 26, 2015 By administrator

The trucks are waiting at the Öncüpınar border gate with Syria in southern Kilis province. (Photo: Cihan)

Hundreds of trucks drivers wait tensely near the Öncüpınar border gate with Syria in southern Kilis province after seven people were killed and 10 were wounded in Russian strikes that hit a convoy taking supplies to refugees in the Azaz area of Halep province in Syria on Wednesday.

Video footage taken at a crossing on the Syrian side of the border of Turkey’s Kilis province on Wednesday showed burning trucks after what aid workers have said was an apparent air strike.

The head of the rebel-run border crossing on the Syrian side said separately that air strikes hit a garage for commercial trailer trucks, killing three people.

“Our teams helped to extinguish the fire … The trucks do not belong to us and there is no information on who bombed them,” Mustafa Özbek, an İstanbul-based official from the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH), told Reuters.

The aid worker who filmed the aftermath initially said it appeared to be that the aid trucks were targeted. It was not immediately clear if the strikes were carried out by Russian or Syrian warplanes. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) had reported earlier on Thursday that there were intensive Russian airstrikes in Azaz.

Syrian activists: There have been fresh airstrikes near Turkish border

Two groups that track the war — the UK-based SOHR and the Local Coordination Committees — say air strikes hit the highway linking the border town of Azaz with the Bab al-Salameh border crossing to Turkey.

They had no immediate word on casualties. The SOHR has said the warplanes that carried out Thursday’s airstrikes were Russian.

The Western-backed Syrian National Coalition, the main Syrian opposition group, condemned the bombing of Azaz, saying it targeted trucks carrying aid supplies.

Turkey seeking escalation on all borders Armenia and Iran– Sergey Shakaryants

November 26, 2015 By administrator

Political analyst Sergey Shakaryants spoke of global politics at a meeting with reporters on Thursday.
According to him big politics is on the agenda.

“Turkish authorities are seeking escalation on different borders, including our border,” Mr Shakaryants said.
According to him, Armenia and Iran will intensify military and security cooperation while they are seeking closer ties.

As to whether the incident with the downed Russian warplane could affect Turkish-Russian relations, Mr Shakaryants said that the nuclear-power plant construction project will first of all be suspended.

“The military ties have been severed, Russians will not warn of their intention to bomb, while NATO will not intercede for Turkey,” he said.

Commenting on a bill calling for Turkey’s accountability for denying the Armenian Genocide, Mr Shakaryants said that the document passing from the Lower Chamber to the Upper Chamber and, finally to President Vladimir Putin for signing will take much time.

It could sober up Azerbaijan as Russia is well aware of which side is escalating the situation. Moreover. Azerbaijan’s reaction to the issue of the Armenian Genocide is much harsher than Turkey’s.