MAY 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Armenia arrested a former MP for allegedly being involved in a murder plot, media reported. Gohar Yenokyan, 73, had been an MP for the opposition Prosperous Armenia party. No specific details of the apparent murder plot were released.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
MAY 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Washington next week, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan will sign a trade deal with the US, media reported quoting US government sources. Although Armenia is an ally of Russia it is also improving ties with the West.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s minister for diaspora, Hranush Hakobyan, called for Armenians based abroad to support the Armenian economy by opening up bank accounts. The Armenian diaspora acts as an important support for Armenia’s economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps looking to boost relations with its neighbour, Armenia has been quick to welcome a potential reduction in sanctions over Iran, media reported quoting Armenian foreign minister Eduard Nalbandyan. Armenia and Iran have steadily improved trade and political links.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia officially marked the 100th anniversary of the killing of thousands of its countrymen by Ottoman Turks, an event it wants recognised as a genocide.
On the eve of the ceremony in Yerevan, Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, joined a growing list of countries calling the death of up to 1.5m Armenians a genocide.
“What happened in the middle of the First World War in the Ottoman Empire under the eyes of the world was a genocide,” media quoted Bundestag Presi- dent Norbert Lammert as saying at the debate on the issue.
The issue is sensitive in Germany as historians have said Nazi leader Adolf Hitler used the killings of the Armenians in the east of modern-day Turkey as evidence the world would turn a blind eye to his plans to kill Jews in Europe.
Presiding over the sombre ceremony in Yerevan, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said: “Recognition of the genocide is a triumph of human conscience and justice over intolerance and hatred.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Francois Hollande were among the foreign dignitaries to attend the service.
The US sent a delegation but President Barack Obama has pointedly steered away from describing the deaths as a genocide.
Turkey has denied the genocide. It says Armenians died in the chaos around the final days of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said that he feels Armenia’s pain over the killings but he is quick to criticise descriptions of the deaths as a genocide.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Speaking at a regional conference, Armenian PM Hovik Abrahamyan said he forecast economic growth in 2015 despite predictions of the opposite. Media quoted Mr Abrahamyan as saying he thought the economy had grown by 2.5% in Q1.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has agreed to lower the price of gas it sells to consumers in Armenia by 13%, media reported quoting Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller. Gazprom owns the gas pipelines in Armenia.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan and Armenia blamed each other for more clashes along the border of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan said that five Armenian soldiers had been killed in shootouts; the Armenia-backed government in Nagorno-Karabakh said that one Azerbaijani soldier had been killed.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)
APRIL 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Taking a conciliatory approach, Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey would mark the 100th anniversary of the killings of thousands of Armenians by Ottoman Turks with a ceremony in Istanbul for the first time. This a concession by Turkey, although it refuses to call the killings a genocide.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)
APRIL 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian president Vladimir Putin and French President Francois Hollande are among the foreign dignitaries due to fly to Yerevan on April 23, the day before the 100th anniversary of the killings of thousands of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)
