ready Archives

Armenian, Azerbaijani negotiators ready to compromise: Lavrov

May 16, 2016 By administrator

Russian-Foreign-Minister-Sergei-Lavrov The participants of negotiations on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement agreed to adhere to the 1994-1995 ceasefire agreements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after the Vienna-hosted meeting on Monday, May 16.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev participated in the meeting, also attended by the foreign policy chiefs of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries.

“The parties agreed to ensure compliance with the ceasefire of 1994-1995,” Lavrov said, according to TASS.

“Compromise between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the conflict is possible, but given the current situation, reaching the goal will be gradual.”

“And there are possibilities of coordinating parameters of the first stage of the settlement,” Lavrov said.

“They were formulated with Russia’s mediation – which acted in line with the general approaches of the Co-chairs – and supported by our French and American partners.”

Lavrov said “there is a good reason to believe” that Armenian and Azerbaijani negotiators are ready to compromise.

According to the Russian foreign policy chief, Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents will agree upon the date and venue of their next meeting in June.

Sargsyan: Armenia stands ready to render full assistance to France

November 14, 2015 By administrator

YEREVAN. – The President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, on Saturday sent condolences to President François Hollande of France.

Sargsyan extended his commiseration in connection with Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris.

“Armenia stands with the brotherly France, and is ready to render full assistance at this difficult time.

“I extend my deepest condolences to you, dear Mr. President, wishing patience, strength and resilience to the friendship people of France and the relatives of the dead, and a speedy recovery to the injured,” the Armenian President’s message states, in particular.

Simultaneous terrorist attacks occurred Friday evening in six different parts of the French capital city.

The attacks claimed over 150 lives and injured numerous others.

ARF-D Paris Office: No Armenians among Paris terrorist attacks victims

At the moment there are no Armenians among the victims of yesterday’s terrorist attacks in Paris, Hrach Varzhapetyan, representative of ARF-Dashnaktsutyun Armenian National Committee French Office told Armenian News – NEWS.am

“We have inquired; there are no Armenians among the victims and injured. Armenian Embassy in France has in its turn inquired whether there are Armenian citizens [among them]. As it turned out, there are no such,” Varzhapetyan said.

According to him, they will finally learn whether there were Armenians or not among the victims after the corresponding lists are issued.

Simultaneous terrorist attacks occurred Friday evening in six different parts of the French capital city.

The attacks claimed over 150 lives and injured numerous people.

Independent Greeks leader says ready to form coalition again with SYRIZA

September 20, 2015 By administrator

Greece’s right-wing Independent Greeks party said on Sunday it would ally with election winners SYRIZA to form a coalition government.

“From tomorrow morning, with Alexis Tspiras as Prime Minister we will form a government,” Independent Greeks president Panos Kammenos told reporters.

SYRIZA was emerging as the clear winner in Sunday’s poll, with 35.5 percent based on more than half of votes counted. That would give it 145 seats in the 300-strong parliament.

Kammenos’s party was polling about 3.7 percent, with an estimated 10 seats.

[Reuters]

Erdoğan says Turkey is ready to take required steps if ‘found guilty’ of Armenian killings

January 30, 2015 By administrator

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (R) is seen during a live interview on public broadcaster TRT Haber on Jan. 29. AA Photo

Accusing Turkey of committing genocide is a form of execution without trial, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has indicated, while also stating that Ankara is “ready to pay for any misdeed” if an “impartial board of historians” concludes that it was at fault for the events of 1915.

“We are not obliged to accept that the so-called Armenian genocide was ‘made-to-order,’” Erdoğan said late on Jan. 29, speaking during a live interview on public broadcaster TRT Haber.

He mentioned that during his period as prime minister, he had sent a letter in 2005 to former Armenian President Robert Kocharian, proposing that historians investigate the 1915 killings of Anatolian Armenians during the Ottoman era.

“We are saying, ‘If you are sincere on this matter, then come, let’s leave this to historians, let historians study the issue, let’s open our archives,’” Erdoğan said

“We have opened our archive. We have revealed more than one million documents on this. If Armenia also has an archive, then they should open it too. If third countries have archives, they should do the same. Let them study and then let them present their reports to us. Then let’s sit around the table as politicians,” he added, referring to his proposal for the establishment of a joint commission of historians and experts from both Turkey and Armenia to study the events of 1915 together.

“If the results reveal that we have committed a crime, if we have a price to pay, then as Turkey we would assess it and take the required steps,” Erdoğan said.

“But let’s be careful here. The 1915 events are out in the open as history. The State of the Republic of Turkey is out in the open. Our archives have been opened and are out in the open, but the archives on the opposite side are not open. They are just saying ‘Turkey is guilty,’ but Turkey is not guilty just by saying so,” he added.

Armenia says up to 1.5 million people were killed by Ottoman forces during World War I, in what it calls an act of genocide. But modern Turkey has always rejected the term genocide, putting the toll at 500,000 and blaming the deaths on starvation and unrest in the broader context of the war.

Earlier this month, Erdoğan said he would “actively” challenge a campaign to pressure Turkey to recognize the massacres as genocide, though a year ago he offered an unprecedented expression of condolences for the 1915-1916 killings.

January/30/2015

Syria ready to help Iraq fight terrorism

June 11, 2014 By administrator

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government says it is prepared to help Baghdad in its fight against terrorism, a day after the takeover of Iraq’s Mosul by al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Damascus is “ready to cooperate with Iraq to face terrorism, our common enemy,” the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The foreign-backed terrorism … in Iraq … is the same” targeting Syrian people, the ministry noted.

The remarks come against the backdrop of criminal operations by militants belonging to the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Mosul, the capital of Nineveh Province, as well as other parts of northern Iraq.

“This terrorism is a threat to peace and security in the region and the world,” said the Syrian ministry, calling on the UN Security Council “to … condemn these terrorist and criminal acts, and to take action against the countries supporting these groups.”

Takfiris have took control of Mosul’s government headquarters, security bases, and important buildings of the city.

Local sources have said nearly half a million escaped with many seeking refuge in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked the United Nations, the European Union, and the Arab League to help the country fight the terrorists.

Violence also raged elsewhere in the country with bombings and shootings across the country.

Iraq’s Interior Ministry has said that militants have launched an open war in Iraq with the aim of pushing the Middle Eastern country into chaos.