STEPANAKERT (ArmRadio)–The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Parliament on Tuesday adopted a report following extensive hearings on the Karabakh conflict and prospects for peace in the region. Entitled "The Karabakh Question: Prospects of Settlement," assessed the political, social and military elemen’s of the conflict and provides recommendations. The Karabakh Parliament adopted this report as an official government position [...]

LAS VEGAS–Bolstered by strong community support and a dedicated team of volunteers, the Nevada Armenian National Committee (ANC) had a banner year in 2006. The Silver State’s ANC chapter focused this year on educating local, state and federal officials on issues of concern to Nevada’s rapidly growing Armenian American community. Thanks in large part to [...]

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–The Armenian economy has expanded at a double-digit rate for a sixth consecutive year, Trade and Economic Development Minister Karen Chshmaritian said on Tuesday. According to government data released by Chshmaritian, Armenia’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 13.2 percent during the first eleven months of this year. The growth rate for the whole of [...]

ANKARA (Turkish Daily News)–"Turkey follows with regret the efforts of the Armenian lobbies (seeking to win votes) to exploit political developmen’s in the United States," Turkish Foreign Affairs spokesman Namik Tan told a weekly news conference in Ankara on Wednesday. Asked to comment on a bill on Armenian genocide, to be discussed in Congress and [...]

WASHINGTON–With Democrats taking control of the U.S. Congress, prospects have increased that lawmakers will approve a resolution recognizing the World War I-era killings of Armenia’s as genocide – despite the objections of President George W. Bush. The shift in Congress also dims the likelihood that the Bush administration can break a deadlock over the president’s [...]

ANKARA (Associated Press)–Turkey has asked its close ally Azerbaijan for information on the alleged mistreatment and expelling of a Turkish musician who is of Armenian descent, a Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday. Murat Bedikyan–a pianist with Eurovision song contest winner Sertap Erener’s band–accused officials in Azerbaijan of mistreating him and unfairly ousting him from the [...]

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–A spokesman for the Armenian branch of the International Committee of Red Cross said its representatives were having regular meetings with an Azeri soldier who willingly crossed the westernmost section of the Armenian-Azeri border near the town of Ijevan last Sunday to surrender to Armenian forces deployed there. The Azeri soldier, who identified himself [...]

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP)–Lockheed Martin Wednesday said it’s won a $635 million contract to upgrade Turkey’s fleet of F-16 fighter jets. The U.S. government awarded Lockheed the contract. It runs into 2016. The work will be done mostly at Lockheed’s facility in Fort Worth and Tusas Aerospace Industries in Ankara, Turkey. Lockheed agreed to supply [...]

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–The National Assembly passed on Monday a bill that reinstates "Mer Hayrenik" as the country’s national anthem that controversially lost its official status earlier this month. The song "Mer Hayrenik" automatically ceased to be the national anthem on December 6 as the Armenian parliament failed to meet a constitutional deadline for reaffirming it or [...]

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–Rescue workers were trying to put out a massive fire at a big chemical plant in Yerevan that raged for a second consecutive day on Monday, emitting large amounts of toxic gas. Some 600 tons of inflammable industrial waste stored in two reservoirs belonging to the recently privatized Nairit plant caught fire in still [...]

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–International mediators will continue to press for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh next year despite parliamentary elections in Armenia, a senior U.S. administration official was reported to say late Monday. In an interview with the Armenian Mediamax news agency, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said the failure by Armenia and Azerbaijan [...]

MOSCOW (Armenpress)–Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, in an interview with the Ekho Moskovy radio station Saturday vowed that his country would never grant independence to Nagorno-Karabakh and would resort to military action if all else failed. "Nagorno-Karabakh is our land, our territory," he said. Aliyev reiterated that Azerbaijan should develop its economy and step up diplomatic [...]

YEREVAN (Armenpress)–The US Charge d’Affairs in Armenia John Godfrey issues a New Year message to the people of Armenia and in the absence of a working ambassador to Armenia, he wished a prosperous new year for the Armenian people. "On this first day of the New Year, I would like to thank the people of [...]

STEPANAKERT (RFE/RL)–The Armenian military repatriated one Azerbaijani soldier and took another as prisoner over the weekend, officials in Yerevan said on Monday. A spokesman for the Defense Ministry said an army conscript who identified himself as Samed Mamedov willingly crossed the westernmost section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and surrendered to Armenian forces deployed there on [...]