Armenian News... A Topalian... Azerbaijani will shoot down in airspace!!!
BBC Monitoring, UK
May 27 2017
Azeri military experts to Armenia: No flights to breakaway
Azerbaijani military experts are saying that the armed forces should
shoot down any aircraft that carries out unauthorised flights in
Azerbaijan's airspace.
Their remarks come following reports that Armenia plans to begin
flights to the Xocali airport in Azerbaijan's breakaway
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Retired colonel Xatai Baxisov said that Azerbaijan has to attack any
unauthorised aircraft in Azerbaijani airspace regardless of its size
and power, the pro-opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat reported on 27
May.
Earlier, reports said that Armenia plans to carry out tourism flights
in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Baxisov was quoted saying that Armenia plans to use small,
single-engine planes that usually escape radar detection. But he
argued that any unauthorised flights on Azerbaijan territory should be
shot down.
"Today Armenians use two-seater and single-engine planes, tomorrow
these may be multi-engine and multi-passenger planes. We do not know
if these are for civilian or military purposes or who is inside them.
Therefore, they have to be shot. Last week when the issue of using the
Xankandi airport surfaced the Defence Ministry declared that the
aircraft that carry out unauthorised flights will be shot," he added.
Azerbaijan's military capabilities
Retired Lt-Gen Yasar Aydamirov told Yeni Musavat in an interview that
the Azerbaijani air defence forces are capable of hitting any aircraft
across the occupied territories, not just above the Xocali airport.
"There are means to be able to silence the enemy positions and to
prevent flights. But they are unnamed and not reported to the public.
I do not wish to openly speak about them now. Today all flying
vehicles, planes and helicopters -- not only pver the Lacin corridor,
or other Azerbaijani territories that are under occupation, but also
those flying over Armenia - are being monitored. Should any of these
pose any threat to Azerbaijan, they can be destroyed immediately. We
are also able to give the enemy a worthy response from the air defence
systems in the military units in the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic
[Azerbaijan's exclave]," Aydamirov said.
According to Aydamirov, the moment the Xocali airport is put into
operation, no foreign forces will be able to prevent the Azerbaijani
army from deciding to destroy it
"All international organisations have recognised Nagorno-Karabakh as
Azerbaijan's territory. Azerbaijan simply does not wish to raise the
tensions. We are able to destroy the Xocali airport in a matter of
several minutes with the reactive volley systems, as well as the
missile-artillery units, as well as the means that are subordinated to
the commander-in-chief," he said.
Aydamirov added that Azerbaijan does not want a major war in the region.
"Major powers also prevent the launch of large-scale military
operations by Azerbaijan. However, the occupier forces us to this war.
In this sense, the war can erupt at any moment. The Armenians are
creating all conditions for this," he said.
Analyst urges "uninterested" OSCE to act
Political analyst Yegana Haciyeva has urged the OSCE to pressure
Armenia over its plans to use the Xocali airport in Karabakh.
In a 27 May interview with the private pro-government Azerbaijani
newspaper Baki Xabar the analyst said that the OSCE has plenty of
mechanisms to influence Armenia.
"Unfortunately, the OSCE does not appear interested in putting these
mechanisms in motion. Next month the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs plan
another visit to the region. In fact, this will be just one of the
hundreds of meaningless and fruitless meetings. Both the International
Civil Aviation Organisation and Azerbaijan have repeatedly warned
Armenia over the past years to give up on these ventures. However, the
Armenian side remains obdurate," she said.
The analyst said that this is an attempt provoke conflict on the frontline.
"They are trying to cause another bloody clash on the frontline, for
the heads of the two states to be brought together and for meaningless
discussions or stupid ideas to be thrown in again, so that the
discussions go on for some time," she added.
RFE/RL Report
May 30, 2017
Sargis Harutyunyan
A fresh meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents is still
not on the cards despite international mediators' efforts to
reinvigorate the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian indicated on Tuesday.
"Armenia has never objected to meetings at the level of [foreign]
ministers or presidents," he said. "If conditions are ripe, such
meetings are possible. But this kind of meetings, especially at the
high, presidential level, have to be properly prepared
for. Ministerial meetings are aimed at ensuring that as well."
"For the time being, we can only talk about a meeting at the
ministerial level," Nalbandian told a joint news conference with
Lamberto Zannier, the visiting secretary general of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev most recently met in Saint
Petersburg last July for talks hosted by their Russian counterpart
Vladimir Putin. The Karabakh peace process has remained essentially
deadlocked since then.
Richard Hoagland, the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, expressed
hope in March that Nalbandian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov will "prepare the ground" for a fresh Aliyev-Sarkisian
encounter. The two ministers met in Moscow in late April. A Russian
Foreign Ministry statement on their talks said nothing about the
possibility of an Armenian-Azerbaijani summit.
Nalbandian also announced on Tuesday that Hoagland and his fellow
Minsk Group co-chairs from Russia and France will visit Yerevan and
Stepanakert next week.
Panorama, Armenia
May 30 2017
Creation of net of schools with Ararat Baccalaureate new educational program launched
The implementation of the National Program for Excellence in Education (NPEE) was summarized today at the Assembly Hall of Matenadaran in Yerevan. The event, attended by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Education Minister Levon Mkrtchyan, and other officials and public figures gave start to the process of creation of a net of schools with the Ararat Baccalaureate new educational program as well as proclaimed the first schools from the marzes of Armenia and Artsakh enrolled in the program.
“Centers of excellency are established throughout Armenia which are aimed at the gradual reform of the whole education system,” acting Minister of Education Levon Mkrtcyan told reporters at a briefing.
To note, the National Program for Educational Excellence (NPEE) is a 10-year initiative, which was launched in 2014 and aims to provide higher-quality general education and carry out systematic reforms in Armenia. Within the framework of the NPEE, the Araratian Baccalaureate, an Armenian-language internationally recognized educational porgram, will be introduced in schools in Armenia, the best human resources will be directed to schools, and a community of teachers meeting international standards will be formed.
The idea of the program belongs to the Ayb Educational Foundation. The program is carried out by Ayb and the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia in collaboration with Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) and the University College London (UCL) Institute of Education (IOE).
To remind, on December 15, 2016 the Cabinet passed a decision to ensure that Ararat Baccalaureate examinations are included in the system of university entrance exam.
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
May 31 2017
Armenian healthcare minister promises to prohibit smoking in public places
Smoking in public places will be prohibited in Armenia, Levon Altunyan, healthcare minister, said Wednesday at an event dedicated to the International Day without Smoking.
«We have received an appropriate instruction from the country's leadership and are planning to submit the law to the parliament already in November 2017,» he said. «This will allow reducing the number of smokers in the country by 30 to 40 percent.»
In his words, the ministry has submitted a strategic program implying prohibition of smoking to the government.
The program contains four components – legislative, international, advertising and psychological and healthcare.
Altunyan said that many countries of Europe and the Eurasian Economic Union had already imposed such restrictions and that this measure might come across resistance.
«But we are ready for that,» he said.
The minister said he has given up smoking 15 years ago of his own free will.
Taxes for tobacco products, he said, may be raised to make cigarettes more expensive, and this can strike hard at smokers' pockets.
In his opinion, such a measure will force smokers to give up smoking and will fill family budgets with 250,000drams, on average, every year.
According to the World Health Organization, 7 million people die every year from smoking in the world, and other 600,000, including women and children who live with smokers, die from passive smoking.
ARKA, Armenian
May 30 2017
Three new national radio stations to be established in Armenia
Armenia’s National Commission on Television and Radio will announce tenders for establishing three new ratio stations able to cover the whole of Armenia, including the border regions, the chairman of the commission, Gagik Buniatyan, told an extraordinary parliament session, when presenting a set of amendments to the law "On radio and television."
According to Buniatyan, tenders are necessary for revision of the terms of the transition to digital broadcasting, which is planned to be implemented before July 20, 2018.
He stressed that switching to digital radio and television broadcasting is associated with significant technical and financial difficulties. Buniatyan noted that the complexities concern not only the costs of introducing digital networks, but also the replacement of radio nodes in cars.
He said the proposed changes will allow creating new radio companies and expanding their coverage.
"We propose that three new national radio companies be established, in addition to Public Radio of Armenia. There are radio companies operating in Yerevan and in the regions, but they can not be called national, as they do not cover the whole territory of the country. New radio stations will help solve this issue, "Buniatyan stressed. -0-
May 30 2017
Henrikh Mkhitaryan handed first class national medal following debut season at Manchester United
Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been awarded a first class medal of services to his home nation Armenia following his debut campaign at Manchester United.
The 28-year-old, who has claimed the Armenian footballer of the year award seven times, recovered from a difficult start at Old Trafford to make a total of 41 appearances, claiming 11 goals in the process.
His most recent strike was undoubtedly the most important of his career: an acrobatic flick to double Man United’s advantage in the Europa League final against Ajax.
Mkhitaryan was handed the medal – something usually reserved for servicemen and soldiers – by president Serzh Sargsyan at the Armenian Presidential Palace and was clearly delighted with receiving such an honour.
“I won’t compare the medal with any goal, you can’t compare those things,” he said soon after the ceremony.
“When Serzh Sargsyan was handing me the medal, he thanked me for good representation of Armenia.”
If you trawl through Mkhitaryan’s interviews from this season, a couple of things become immediately apparent: firstly, and most notably, he is a graciously humble individual and that, secondly, the two motivating factors he always points towards are his family and indeed the people of Armenia.
The 28-year-old, born in the lead-up to the collapse of the USSR, experienced a turbulent upbringing, moving between France and his homeland as conflict ensued.
Not much is known of Armenian culture and their people, but Mkhitaryan has put the former Soviet republic on the map and will be rightfully regarded as a national hero for as long as he lives.
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