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.

Islamic State: delivers suicide bombers to Europe “via Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia”

July 11, 2016 By administrator

islamic state terror The Islamic State militants have begun using a new route through Azerbaijan, Cyprus and Georgia to transfer their suicide bombers from Syria to Europe, Turkish daily Milliyet reported on July 11, citing intelligence officials, Hurriyet says.

According to the daily, Turkish intelligence officials, who cooperated with foreign intelligence services, determined that ISIL recently tasked its militants from Azerbaijan and the Northern Caucasus to carry out attacks in Turkey and Azerbaijan. ISIL planned attacks in Turkey and Europe after suffering defeats in the hands of U.S.-led coalition forces in Syria, the report also said.

The jihadist group planned to continue targeting Turkey, due to the latter apprehending the former’s members and carrying out operations against it, according to the intelligence officials.

In addition, it was determined that IS formed a group of 20 to 25 militants in Syria and tried to send them to Turkey a short while ago after the IDs of a number of its militants were exposed in operations carried out in the country. The General Directorate of Security sent a warning notice to provincial security directorates in April regarding these developments, according to reports.

The General Directorate of Security reportedly sent another warning concerning ISIL attackers from Azerbaijan and the Caucasus in June, saying the militants were planning suicide attacks in Turkey and Azerbaijan. The aforementioned militants planned to attack police officers and their families in Azerbaijan, the report said.

Meanwhile, another warning which was sent to provincial security directorates after ISIL’s attack on Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport on June 28, which left 45 people dead and scores wounded, reportedly informed the police on the jihadist group’s new targets in Turkey. The warning, which was sent on June 30, stressed that ISIL militants in Ankara and Istanbul were planning attacks on military and police buildings with bomb-laden cars.

IS wanted to assassinate Kurdish public officials, journalists and military and intelligence officials working in Ankara, Istanbul and the western province of İzmir, the warning also said.

Turkey has been on high alert, as the country has been rocked by a series of suicide and car bomb attacks which claimed many lives and wounded hundreds.

Hurriyet. ISIL transfers suicide bombers from Syria to Europe through Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia: Report

Armenia, Russia, Iran and Georgia Sign Energy Accord

April 13, 2016 By administrator

ArmeniaIranGeorgiaRussia YEREVAN (Arka)—Energy ministers of Armenia, Russia, Iran, and the deputy energy minister of Georgia signed a “road map” for building the North-South Energy Corridor during a meeting in Yerevan on Wednesday.

Armenia’s Deputy Energy Minister Areg Galstyan said after the signing ceremony, the “road map” formalized the steps and programs that will be implemented until 2019, when the energy corridor is supposed to be launched.

According to Galstyan, when the construction of power transmission lines between Armenia and Iran as well as Armenia and Georgia is over, it will enable parallel operation of power systems of the four countries, as they operated during the Soviet Union.

Galstyan also said the North-South Energy Corridor will be used primarily for seasonal electricity swaps through third countries. After the full launch of the corridor, its capacity will reach about 1,000 MW.

He said with Iranian funding, Armenian and Iran will build a power transmission line. Another line will be built between Armenia and Georgia with funding from the German KfW bank.

The Armenian government said after last year’s meeting with the energy ministers and the chief executive of a leading Russian electric utility, the four countries agreed to build a common energy market after the construction of two new power transmission lines connecting Armenia with Georgia and Iran.

The Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs visiting Yerevan

March 28, 2016 By administrator

arton123820-480x270 The accession of Armenia to the trade bloc led by Russia and the Association Agreement between Georgia and the European Union can be used for deepening relations between the two neighboring countries, said the Minister of Affairs Georgian Foreign Mikheil Janelidze during a visit to Yerevan on Friday.

Janelidze and President Serzh Sargsyan agreed that Armenia and Georgia had a “great potential to develop bilateral cooperation in the framework of two different integration process.”

“Both countries believe that this will allow to intensify the Armenian-Georgian relations,” Sargsyan assured the office in a statement on the talks held by the two men.

Janelidze had also discussed the issue at a separate meeting with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian held earlier in the day. “We talked about how we could use these integration processes to benefit our cooperation,” he told a joint press conference with Nalbandian.

“There are no problems between Armenia and Georgia,” said Nalbandian for his part. “If there are any, they are solved through joint efforts.”

The Armenian minister added that they talked, among others, possible joint projects on transport infrastructure, trade and energy.

Armenia and Georgia are expected to build by 2018 a new transmission line that will make their interconnected grids. The $ 115 million is funded by the German development bank State and the European Union.

Membership in the Eurasian Economic Union led by Russia (EEU) requires that the Armenian government adopts substantially higher fees for goods imported from countries outside the bloc. Many expected that this will lead to the end of free trade arrangements between Georgia and Armenia, since Georgia has entered a “free trade area depth” with the European Union.

However, Armenian officials have assured the end of 2014 that Armenia has managed to convince the other member states of the EEU to let her keep special arrangements it has with Georgia.

Monday, March 28, 2016,
Claire © armenews.com

Important project of cooperation between Armenia, Georgia, Iran and Russia

March 18, 2016 By administrator

arton123388-480x270 The main energy officials of Georgia, Armenia, Iran and Russia will meet in Tbilisi next month for further negotiations on strengthening feedstock into links between their countries, confirmed Thursday the Minister of Energy of Armenia Levon Yolian.

The Ministers of the Armenian energy, Georgians and Iranians, and the general manager of a Russian electricity company leading had met in Yerevan for this purpose at the end of December. The Armenian government said after the meeting that the four nations could create a common energy market after the construction of two new transmission lines between Armenia with Georgia and Iran.

Yolian reiterated hopes for Armenia to become a major transit route for electricity and gas supply between the different parties. “A very active work is underway to involve the territory and energy of Armenia sector in the regional process,” he told reporters.

Yolian said the new talks on the issue are expected to start in the Georgian capital on April 11th. He added that the energy ministers of the four countries will be taking part.

The Georgian Ministry of Energy also reported Monday that the quadripartite meeting will be held in Tbilisi next month. “A Georgian delegation was already involved in the negotiations on this project in Yerevan, and these will continue in Tbilisi,” the ministry said in a statement to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

The information was made public when Alexander Novak, Minister of the Russian Energy, visited Tehran and met with his Iranian counterpart Hamid Chitchian. Novak reportedly said after the meeting that Russia and Iran are discussing the creation of an “electricity supply network” shared that would pass through Armenia and Azerbaijan. Without giving further details.

In a statement on the December negotiations in Yerevan, the Armenian Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources stated that Russia, Iran, Armenia and Georgia are exploring ways to establish a “regional energy market. “

In this regard, the Ministry stressed the importance of the ongoing construction of a third more powerful high-voltage transmission line between Armenia and Iran. According to officials in Yerevan this investment of $ 120 million will allow Armenia to quadruple its electricity exports to the Islamic Republic by 2018.

The ministry also stressed that Armenia and Georgia will soon start building a similar line that will allow electricity networks to be better interconnected. This proposed $ 115 million is also expected for 2018, and is financed by German development bank KfW State and the European Union.

Friday, March 18, 2016,
Ara © armenews.com

US State of Georgia senate recognizes Armenian Genocide

March 10, 2016 By administrator

state of Georgia WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Georgia State Senate adopted SR 991, a resolution “Recognizing the month of April, 2016, as Genocide Prevention and Awareness Month” in this US state, reported the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly).

The resolution states that “when coining the term ‘genocide,’ Raphael Lemkin was moved to investigate the forced assimilation, deportation, and near eradication of the Armenian population and other Christian communities, beginning in April, 1915, prompting Adolf Hitler to remark in 1939, ‘Who after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?’”

“The resolution had bipartisan support and we will continue our efforts to broaden genocide recognition and human rights education in our school curriculum,” stated Dr. Vahan Kassabian, Armenian Assembly Georgia State Chair, who was present at the capitol to witness the bill’s passage.

The resolution goes on to reference the Holocaust of European Jews during World War II, as well as the genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Iraq, Rwanda, Sudan, and the current brutality of the Islamic State (aka ISIS/ISIL/Daesh) in Syria and Iraq as outstanding examples.

SR 991 was sponsored by State Senators Elena Parent (D-GA), David Shafer (R-GA-), Renee Unterman (R-GA), Joshua McKoon (R-GA), Nan Orrock (D-GA), and Harold Jones II (D-GA).

“The Assembly appreciates the work of the Georgia State Senate, particularly Senators Parent, Shafer, Unterman, McKoon, Orrock, and Jones, as well as our state chair Dr. Vahan Kassabian,” stated Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. “These anti-genocide activists in Georgia and across the U.S. are playing a major role in advancing human rights education and we look forward to the day when all 50 states incorporate the teaching of the Holocaust and Armenian Genocide in our schools.”

To note, 43 of 50 US states have formally recognized the Armenian Genocide.

USA: Georgia State House passes Karabakh recognition resolution

March 3, 2016 By administrator

207400 The Georgia State House adopted the resolution “Honoring and Recognizing the Nagorno Karabakh Republic” on Thursday, March 3, Armenian National Committee of Georgia reports.

Representatives Pat Gardner and Demetrius Douglas were the main sponsors of the document.

The ANC of Georgia will provide further details later.

In late August 2015, the California State Senate, led by incoming Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Leon, by an overwhelming majority of votes passed Assembly member Mike Gatto’s resolution, encouraging Artsakh’s (Nagorno Karabakh) continuing efforts to develop as a free and independent nation and formally calling upon the President and Congress of the United States to support the self-determination and democratic independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

Iran to export gas to Georgia via Armenia if Yerevan agrees: official

February 17, 2016 By administrator

Tehran and Tbilisi are holding negotiations for the supply of 200 million cubic meters of Iranian gas to Georgia, local media report.

“Gas supply to Georgia will probably begin in the next Iranian year (starting March 21),” the General Director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) Alireza Kameli said.

According to him, the first contract is signed for 7 months, set to serve as a basis for further cooperation. He also said that “Georgia is yet to get permission from Armenia for it to serve as a transit territory. If the economic feasibility of the transaction is confirmed, we can in the future discuss medium and long-term contracts on gas supplies to Georgia.”

Russia warns Armenia against the intrusion of jihadists from the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia

February 9, 2016 By administrator

Gg-map-480x246-480x246 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed on February 8 at a press conference in Moscow that “the Islamic State (EI or Daech)” used the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia as a training base. “We have information that the EI fighters use these remote mountainous areas to train, rest and replenish their workforce,” S.Lavrov said. This is not the first time that Moscow calls these deep gorges in the Caucasus mountains, on the border of Georgia and Russia, as an Islamic terrorist breeding ground. Already during the war waged by Russian forces to subdue the Chechens, Russia had mentioned the Pankisi Gorge as the main crossing point of the Chechen fighters and Islamist mercenaries who supported them, not without blame in passing Georgia complacency them.

Russia faces the threat of Daech who, having claimed the crash of the Russian plane to Sharm el Sheikh October 31, 2015, hit its territory, claiming some time after a shootout in Derbent, tourist site of the Republic Dagestan of the Russian autonomous, where the jihadists have settled since neighboring Chechnya has been developed not by a vassal of the Kremlin Ramzan Kadyrov and Moscow took the opportunity to point the finger once again Georgia.

Alexander Krylov, chairman of the scientific studies of Caucasian Society, confirmed that the Pankisi Gorge harbored many a jihadist training facility, unable to assess the number, which varies according to him, according to the whereabouts of regular different terrorist groups in the Middle East. “The military situation in the Middle East is not currently favorable to the ‘Islamic state’, and they are forced to migrate by opening new fronts in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

In this regard, the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia can become a haven for jihadists, where they can carry out acts of terrorism and guerrilla, “said A. Krylov. According to him, Azerbaijan is the gateway easier for these fighters in the Caucasus. In Azerbaijan, the EI fighters already have a well-marked trail. If they decide to destabilize the situation in Azerbaijan, they arrive there without doubt, for they have all the necessary resources for this purpose. “But the biggest danger for Armenia does not take into projects that terrorists are attached to Azerbaijan, but rather in the situation in the Georgian region of Adjara, where they can enter in Javakheti, and here, in Armenia. That would be the worst scenario for Armenia, and we can state objectively that it is a growing threat to the national security of Armenia, “said A.Krylov.

According to the expert, in spite of such a threat, the South Caucasus countries will not join their efforts against these fighters, the region is experiencing a climate of war. Recall that in June 2015, the Georgian special services had conducted a secret operation in the Pankisi Gorge in order to stop an armed group linked to EI. The warlord islamist Abu Omar al-Shishani (Tarhan Batirashvili) was arrested at the end of this operation.

Gerogia: Turkish Military Expension & Deployment Will Result in Secession of Javakhk

January 12, 2016 By administrator

Turkish military (Source: Ivarfjeld.com)

KRASNODAR (Arminfo News Agency) — The Javakhk Diaspora of Russia issued a statement openly calling on the population of Javakhk (Samtskhe- Javakhet- Tsalka region) to launch a signature collection for secession if the attempts to deploy a Turkish military base in the territory of Georgia are really made.

The Javakhk Diaspora of Russia issued the statement following the Georgian media report that mentioned these possible considerations of the deployment of a Turkish military base in Georgia are said to be discussed in an upcoming meeting of the defense ministers of Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.

“We call on the newly-elected government of Georgia to prevent the country’s involvement in the deliberate provocative conflicts, given that Turkey is going to do the bidding of its western and North- Atlantic patrons and to deliver another stab in the back of Russia, destabilizing the situation in the territory that directly affects the interests Russia’s security. In the given case, the interests of not only Russia but also neighboring Armenia are affected,” the statement says.