Armenian pro-boxer in €100,000 thank-you to sports school in native Yerevan

Germany-based Armenian boxer Arthur Abraham gave expensive gifts to the Vladimir Yengibaryan Olympic Boxing Children’s and Youth Sport School, thus showing his gratitude to the establishment in Yerevan where he made his first steps in sport.

On Wednesday afternoon the renowned boxer personally handed to 50 trainees and coaches of the school sports equipment and boxing gear worth €100,000, including punching bags, boxing “paws”, boxer T-shirts and shorts, boots, bags, gloves, caps and other sportswear.

“This donation was the desire of my heart, and I express my deepest gratitude to the school where I studied, trained, had good coaches. That’s why I want to give all these gifts to all the pupils who go in for sports to encourage them to train better and become champions,” said the athlete.  Read more... (489 words)

Armenia, Iran Set For Joint Border Control

Armenia and Iran plan to jointly manage their sole border crossing in an effort to facilitate travel and transport communication between the two neighboring states, the Armenian government said on Friday.

The government made the announcement after approving a relevant Armenian-Iranian draft agreement that stresses “the need to elevate the level of good-neighborly bilateral relations.”

The agreement was submitted to Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian’s cabinet for approval by Gagik Khachatrian, head of Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC). Officials in Yerevan could not say when it is expected to be signed.

The 6-page document stipulates that the immigration and customs bodies of the two countries will “provide joint services” at the Meghri-Nourdouz crossing in order to “facilitate international traffic of passenger, cargoes and transport vehicles.”  Read more... (494 words)

Death attempt plotted against Dink’s assassin – Turkish intelligence

The Turkish intelligence agencies have raised alarms over a reported death attempt plot against Ogun Samast, a Turkish nationalist jailed over charges of the assassination of Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Armenian-Turkish weekly Agos.

According to the Turkish newspaper Star, the Turkish National Intelligence Organization’s (MIT) confidential letter on the reported plot has been sent to the Istanbul juvenile court, the prison administration, the Istanbul intelligence service, and the Istanbul provincial gendarmerie.

“It is planned to launch an armed attack on the vehicle that periodically transports Ogun Samast from jail to court,” says the MIT statement.

The Turkish intelligence claims that the attack will be launched by the leftist Turkish Workers and Villagers Organization (TIKKO) whose armed rebels are reportedly planning to bomb the vehicle.  Read more... (149 words)

Family in Armenia Asks Turkey for Assylum

Mariam Gishyan, a mother of five living in Armenia, has asked the Turkish government to grant her refugee status.

Mrs. Gishyan has also written to RA President Serzh Sargsyan, requesting that that since she cannot pay OVIR (Office of Visas and Registration) the required documentation fees, her family be stripped of Armenian citizenship.

“Since I and my family have been subjected to a white genocide, deprived of a house; living wage and human rights, I will not allow my boys to serve in the army of an immoral nation,” Mrs. Gishyan wrote to President Sargsyan.

She also noted in her letter that because she has no home address she would come to the presidential office to receive a reply.  Read more... (880 words)

Armenia to issue biometric passports beginning next year

Biometric passports will be issued in Armenia beginning in 2012, according to Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasyan.

Speaking at a panel discussion organized by the Civilitas Foundation on Tuesday the minister said a relevant decision has already been taken by the government.

He said biometric passports were another step towards boosting Armenia-EU ties.

In February it was announced that Polish PWPW S.A. (Polish Security Printing Works) and French Oberthur had won a tender to print IDs and biometric passports for Armenia. However it is not decided yet which of these two companies will introduce the new documents in Armenia.  Read more... (144 words)

New York Times article stirs controversy among Armenian readers

A recent New York Times article giving an Azerbaijani perspective of the Karabakh conflict has elicited mixed reactions among Armenian scholars and the broader public.

A page-four article in the May 31 edition of the leading international newspaper titled “Frozen Conflict Between Azerbaijan and Armenia Begins to Boil”, by NYT Moscow bureau chief Ellen Barry mostly portrays Azerbaijan as a victim, addressing possible reasons for renewed hostilities in Karabakh.

The timing of the article has also been questioned as it was published during Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov’s working visit to the United States, which was due to end on Friday with the Azeri top diplomat’s meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Read more... (434 words)

Knesset Speaker working to boost recognition of Genocide

Speaker of Israeli Knesset Reuven Rivlin said Monday that he wanted to convene an annual parliamentary session of the full Knesset to mark the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and 1916 at the hands of the Turks, Haaretz.com reported.

“It is my duty as a Jew and Israeli to recognize the tragedies of other peoples,” Rivlin said, speaking to an Israel-based Armenian action committee.

Rivlin added: “Diplomatic considerations, important as they may be, do not allow us to deny the disaster [experienced by] another people.”

In recent years the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry have applied heavy pressure to head off such sessions of the Knesset out of concern that relations between Israel and Turkey would be harmed. Turkey denies that it committed genocide against the Armenians.  Read more... (490 words)

Eurovision 2012: Host Azerbaijan says will ensure Armenian delegation’s security

An Azerbaijani official has pledged on behalf of his government that security will be provided to an Armenian participant and delegation members in next year’s pan-European pop music contest to be hosted by Baku.

Azerbaijani news agency APA quoted the country’s Minister of Youth and Sports Azad Rahimov as saying on Tuesday that “the state of Azerbaijan guarantees the security of Armenian representatives who will participate in Eurovision 2012.”

Azerbaijan got the right to host next year’s popular show after its duet won this year’s competition in Germany. The annual contest has been organized by active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union since 1956.

Its popularity in Armenia has grown in the past few years since the country began to field its representative in 2006.  Read more... (235 words)

‘Frozen Conflict’ Between Azerbaijan and Armenia Begins to Boil

By Ellen Barry

BAKU, Azerbaijan — In a mostly empty Soviet-era building here on a recent morning, a 29-year-old woman pressed her eye against the scope of a sniper rifle, brown hair spilling over her shoulder, and took aim at virtual commandos darting between virtual trees.

Gathered around her were fellow students — a decommissioned soldier, teenage boys with whispery moustaches, a 34-year-old communications worker in Islamic hijab. When sniper training was offered here in April, by an organization that provides courses on military preparation, the classes were a sensation, attracting three times as many students as the instructors could handle.

The logic behind this can be traced to a grievance that festers below the surface of everyday life, permeating virtually every conversation about this country’s future.  Read more... (1223 words)