Azerbaijan might renew war with Armenia

YEREVAN. - Statements of Azerbaijani side that under different circumstances the country will start hostilities against Armenia are now something new and are repeated with definite recurrence, Georgian expert Ramaz Sakvarelidze told Armenian News-NEWS.am.
“I do not rule out that at certain moment the Azerbaijani side would come to a conclusion that the political path of settling the problem is not productive,” he added.
According to Sakvarelidze, any prolonged stasis of the settlement process will sooner or later lead to the situation where the side considering itself fare will incline towards new hostilities.
Currently, none of the sides deems itself unfair, but “in given circumstances Azerbaijan feels it lost territories and feels strangulated,” Georgian expert noted.
Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Hasanov said in his interview to Turkish Hurriyet that in case the process of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement goes as it does, Azerbaijan will declare war.

Βατικανό: ανοίγει τα αρχεία του για τη Γενοκτονία των Αρμενίων

Τα μυστικά αρχεία του ανοίγει έπειτα από περίπου έναν αιώνα το Βατικανό για να συμμετάσχει στην έκδοση βιβλίου και σε έκθεση ντοκουμέντων σχετικά με την Αρμενική Γενοκτονία του 1915/16 από την οθωμανική Τουρκία.

Είναι η πρώτη φορά που η Αγία Εδρα δημοσιοποιεί αρχειακό υλικό που τεκμηριώνει τις εκτεταμένες αγριότητες και σφαγές σε βάρος των Αρμενίων, στη διάρκεια των οποίων περίπου 1,5 εκατομμύριο βρήκαν βίαιο θάνατο. Οπως ανακοίνωσε ο υπεύθυνος των αρχείων, καρδινάλιος Σέρτζιο Πάγκανο σε  συνέντευξη Τύπου, η έκθεση των εγγράφων και λοιπών τεκμηρίων του Βατικανού θα ξεκινήσει τον ερχόμενο Φεβρουάριο στο Μουσείο του Λόφου του Καπιτωλίου στη Ρώμη.

Hrant Dink murder: Turk Ogun Samast jailed

 

Hrant Dink was one of the most prominent voices in the Turkish-Armenian community

 

The Turkish killer of the ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink has been sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison.

Ogun Samast, a Turkish ultra-nationalist, was 17 when he carried out the killing in January 2007.
A panel of judges sentenced him to life imprisonment, but commuted the term because he was a minor at the time.
Dink was the editor of a bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper, and had been prosecuted and convicted of denigrating "Turkishness".
His offence was describing the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces in the early 20th Century as genocide.
He was shot dead by Samast outside his office in Istanbul.
Several other people are also being tried for conspiracy over Dink's killing.
Dink's lawyer, Fethiye Cetin, said the sentence sent a strong signal.
"Ogun Samast and other suspects were not expecting this sentence. This could ruin their hope of being freed soon," he told Reuters.
"This is very important to deter this sort of crime."
The European Court of Human Rights ruled last year that Turkey had failed to protect Dink, despite being warned that ultra-nationalists were plotting to kill him.
In June, a Turkish court gave two military officers and four other officials jail sentences for failing to act on the intelligence

Armenia–Israel relations

Armenian - Israeli relations

Map indicating location of Armenia and Israel
Armenia	Israel

Armenia–Israel relations refer to bilateral relations between Armenia and Israel.

 Background

Armenian-Jewish relations date back to the time of Armenian emperor Tigranes the Great, who, retreating from Judaea, took 10,000 Jews with him on his return to the Kingdom of Armenia.^[1] Israel itself is home to the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.^[2]

 Relations today

Since independence, Armenia has received support from Israel and today remains one of its major trade partners. According to the CIA World Factbook, Armenia receives 4.8% of its imports from Israel while Israel receives 7.1% of Armenia's exports.^[3] Although both countries have diplomatic relations, neither maintains an embassy in the other country. Instead, Ehude Moshe Eytam, the Israeli ambassador to Armenia is based in Tbilisi, Georgia, and visits Yerevan twice a month,^[1] while the Armenian ambassador to Israel stays in France and Armenia has a consulate in Israel.
There have been several high-level official visits to Israel by Armenians in the last several years. In January 2000, former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan traveled to Israel and met with high-ranking Israeli officials, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The two sides pledged to strengthen relations and signed agreements on health and bilateral investment.^[4] In 2003, the Catholicos of All Armenian Karekin II visited Chief Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger who accepted an invitation by Karekin to visit Armenia.^[5]
Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Israel, has paid tribute to 10 Armenians as Righteous Among the Nations for risking their lives during the Holocaust to rescue Jews. However, because Turkey is a strategic partner of Israel and one of the few countries in the Middle East that recognizes Israel's right to exist, Israel has yet to recognize the Armenian Genocide. In the years following Armenia's independence, however, Israeli politicians, Rabbis, and the country's small Armenian community have called on Israel to do so. At the same time, Turkey has warned of harming ties with Israel if Israel or the United States recognizes the killings as genocide.^[6] As of 2008, there has been an ongoing debate regarding recognition in the Knesset with Turkey lobbying hard to prevent it.^[7] According to The Jerusalem Post, "many Israelis are eager for their country to recognize the genocide".^[8] There are presently 3,000^[9] Armenians living in Israel, including ~1,000 in Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter.^[10] There are 750 ethnic Jews living in Armenia. Many Armenian citizens are of Jewish heritage. There is also a small community of Subbotnik Jews, whose ancestors Converted to Judaism, although their numbers are dwindling.