Tuesday,
Karabakh Soldier Wounded In Truce Violation
NAGORNO-KARABAKH -- Armenian soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint on the road
leading to Kalbacar, near the village of Charektar, November 25, 2020
Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh accused Azerbaijani forces of wounding a
Karabakh Armenian soldier and also targeting local civilians in separate
ceasefire violations on Tuesday.
Karabakh’s Defense Army said the conscript identified as Khachatur Khachatrian
was hospitalized in serious condition after coming under Azerbaijani gunfire in
the disputed territory’s “eastern border zone.”
The army said that it immediately alerted Russian peace keepers stationed in
Karabakh about the incident.
“The situation at that section of the line of contact is stable at the moment,”
it added in a statement.
According to the Karabakh authorities, the soldier was wounded less than an hour
after Azerbaijani forces fired on farmers who cultivated land outside a village
in eastern Karabakh close to the line of contact.
A statement released by the local prosecutor’s office said a tractor used by
them was hit by the gunshots before Russian troops intervened to rescue the
farmers.
The Azerbaijani government did not immediately comment on the incidents.
The authorities in Stepanakert have reported several such incidents in recent
months. In October, a Karabakh farmer was shot dead while working in his orchard
outside the town of Martakert. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed afterwards
that he was killed “as a result of gunfire from the Azerbaijani side.”
Azerbaijani army units are also accused of regularly opening small arms fire at
Karabakh villages close to the town of Shushi (Shusha) occupied by them during
the 2020 war. A private house in one of those villages, Karmir Shuka, was
damaged by Azerbaijani gunfire last week.
Karabakh officials say that such shootings are aimed at intimidating the
territory’s ethnic Armenian population. Baku denies that.
Russian, Armenian FMs Discuss Ukraine Crisis
RUSSIA -- Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (left) meets with his
Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, August 31, 2021
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat
Mirzoyan discussed Russia’s continuing standoff with the West over Ukraine in a
phone call on Tuesday.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the two men engaged in a “detailed exchange of
views” regarding “ongoing negotiations on security guarantees” demanded by
Moscow from the United States and other Western powers.
“The importance of consistently upholding the principles of equal and
indivisible security in the Euro-Atlantic region was emphasized,” read a
statement released by the ministry.
From Moscow’s perspective, “indivisible security” means that NATO must pledge
not to admit Ukraine and to scale back its military presence near Russia’s
borders. The U.S. and its NATO allies have rejected these demands amid growing
fears of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine.
Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops along the Ukrainian border but
denies planning to invade the former Soviet republic.
Armenia, which has close political, military and economic ties with Russia, has
not publicly taken sides in the conflict.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it is “closely monitoring
developments in Ukraine.” It also indicated that Yerevan is not planning to
evacuate Armenian diplomatic missions there.
Incidentally, the official Armenian readout of Mirzoyan’s call with Lavrov made
no explicit mention of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It said they discussed the
implementation of Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by Moscow and
Armenia’s normalization talks with Turkey.
Azerbaijan Vows To Arrest Karabakh Leader
• Lusine Musayelian
• Karlen Aslanian
Nagorno Karabakh - Arayik Harutiunian, president of Nagorno Karabakh, delivers a
live video address from Stepanakert, November 10, 2020
The Azerbaijani authorities said on Tuesday that they intend to arrest and
prosecute soon Ara Harutiunian, the Nagorno-Karabakh president.
“Harutiunian, who presents himself as the leader of a self-proclaimed regime,
will be brought to justice by operational divisions and special services and
intelligence agencies as quickly as possible,” a senior prosecutor, Nemat
Avazov, told reporters in Baku.
He said that Harutiunian is wanted for his role in Armenian missile strikes on
Azerbaijan’s second largest city of Gyanja carried out during the 2020 war over
Karabakh.
The strikes, which reportedly left over two dozen civilians dead, followed
relentless Azerbaijani shelling of Karabakh’s capital Stepanakert and other
towns. The deadly shelling continued until Russia-brokered ceasefire stopped the
six-week war in November 2020.
Karabakh’s foreign minister, Davit Babayan, condemned the Azerbaijani official’s
statement.
“This is part of Azerbaijan’s terrorist policy,” Babayan told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service from Stepanakert. “This could be expected. There is nothing new here.”
“With such actions, Azerbaijan is trying to spread fear [in Karabakh,]” he said.
“They may also try to somehow harm Artsakh (Karabakh) officials or attack them.”
The Azerbaijani authorities already issued international arrest warrants for
Harutiunian, Babayan and other Karabakh Armenian leaders shortly after the war.
Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General condemned the move at the time,
saying that it has “taken measures” to prevent them from being placed on
Interpol’s most wanted list.
Harutiunian has repeatedly visited Russia since then. Babayan expressed
confidence that Moscow, which deployed 2,000 peacekeeping troops to Karabakh
right after the war, will not help Baku apprehend him.
Armenian Minister Wants Mass Sackings Of Judges
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia - Justice Minister Karen Andreasian gives a press conference,November
30, 2021.
A state body overseeing Armenian courts must dismiss scores of judges this year
as part of judicial reforms proclaimed by the government, Justice Minister Karen
Andreasian said on Tuesday.
Andreasian implied that they should include judges who have signed in recent
weeks statements accusing the Armenian authorities of seeking to curb judicial
independence in the country.
“If the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) is up to the task, then I promise you
that within a year the vetting [of judges] in Armenia will be over and we will
have the kind of judicial system that you want,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service.
The SJC is a nominally independent body empowered to fire judges or allow their
arrest and prosecution. Such decisions have until now had to be backed by at
least seven of the SJC’s ten members.
Under a bill passed by Armenia’s government-controlled parliament last week,
five members will be enough to give the green light to punishing judges. Critics
say Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration will use the bill to step up
pressure on independent-minded judges reluctant to execute government orders or
to get rid of them altogether.
Armenia -- A court building in Yerevan, June 9, 2020.
Andreasian stood by his earlier claims that at least 40 of the country’s judges
are “corrupt” and must go. But he did not name them or offer any proof of the
allegations.
The minister said instead: “There is some clan-based sentiment [within the
judiciary.] For example, 93 judges signed some statement. I’m not saying that
they all are corrupt. But I can see that 10, 20, 30 names are repeated when
there is another action [by judges.]”
The 93 signatories mentioned by Andreasian reportedly demanded last week that
the chairwoman of Armenia’s Court of Cassation, Lilit Tadevosian, call an
emergency conference of judges. Their appeal followed the arrest of one of their
colleagues.
The arrested judge, Boris Bakhshiyan, has said that he is prosecuted in
retaliation for granting bail to a jailed opposition figure late last month. The
leadership of Armenia’s Union of Judges has also decried his detention.
Prosecutors insist that the accusations leveled against Bakhshiyan are only
connected with another decision which he made during an ongoing trial presided
over by him.
Armenia -- Supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian block the entrance to a
district court building in Yerevan, May 20, 2019.
In recent months, Armenian opposition groups, lawyers and some judges have
repeatedly accused Pashinian’s government of seeking to increase government
influence on courts under the guise of judicial reforms. The authorities deny
this, insisting that the reforms are aimed at increasing judicial independence.
Pashinian demanded a mandatory “vetting” of all judges in 2019, saying that many
of them are linked to the country’s former rulers. But his government
subsequently agreed to refrain from such a purge at the urging of legal experts
from the Council of Europe.
A new law enacted in 2020 introduced instead a “verification of the integrity”
of judges which is carried out by a state anti-corruption body.
Andreasian sought to revive the idea of judicial “vetting” after being appointed
as justice minister in August. He stated later in 2021 that the vetting process
has already begun with the help of Gagik Jahangirian, a former prosecutor
controversially installed as acting head of the SJC last April.
Andreasian complained on Tuesday that the process has been slow so far for a
number of reasons, including objections from “European structures.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Author: Andranik Taslakhchian
Armenian businesses see both opportunity and threat from opening of Turkish border
EurasiaNet.org
Feb 10 2022
Blinken to talk with Lavrov
12:18,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 12, ARMENPRESS. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he is planning to hold a phone talk on February 12 with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, reports TASS.
“I am planning to underscore the unity and resolve of [allies]”, Blinken said.
Last time Blinken and Lavrov held a phone talk on February 1.
In a conversation with Zelensky, Stoltenberg promised to continue NATO’s practical and political assistance
19:06,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. In a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg once again promised to continue providing practical and political assistance to Kyiv, ARMENPRESS reports, TASS informed.
"I spoke with President Zelensky about the concentration of Russian troops near Ukraine and its territory. NATO will continue to provide practical and political assistance to our very valuable partner," the Secretary-General wrote on his Twitter account.
Stoltenberg stressed that the alliance continues to call on Russia to move forward in the path of dialogue and searching a peaceful solution.
Azerbaijani press: NATO supports normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia – Special Representative
7 February 2022 18:38 (UTC+04:00)
800
By Trend
NATO supports the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Special Representative of the organization's Secretary General for the South Caucasus and Central Asia Javier Colomina said on Twitter, Trend reports.
Commenting on the repatriation of eight servicemen of Armenian origin by Azerbaijan to Armenia, Colomina called it good news.
"NATO appreciates the partnership with both Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he noted.
According to him, the normalization of relations between the countries will contribute to increasing stability and prosperity in the region.
Guided by the principle of humanism, on February 7, 2022, Azerbaijan repatriated eight servicemen of Armenian origin to Armenia.
Some of them were servicemen detained on November 16, 2021 while suppressing a provocation committed by the Armenian armed forces in direction of the Kalbajar district of the state border.
US figure skater Nathan Chen sets world record in short program at Beijing Olympics
10:02, 8 February, 2022
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. US figure skater Nathan Chen set a new world record in the short program at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, reports TASS.
Chen scored 113.97 points. The previous world record was set during the 2020 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships by Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu (111.82 points).
Armenia Ombudsman: Statements from Armenia legitimize Azerbaijan’s territorial claims
News.am
Armenia – Feb 4 2022
Armenia Ombudsman: Statements from Armenia legitimize Azerbaijan's territorial claims
18:14, 04.02.2022
Certain statements voiced in Yerevan legitimize the territorial claims of Azerbaijan, the Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan said at the press conference on 4 February.
The human rights defender stated once again the fallacy of the Armenian side's approach to the mirror withdrawal of troops from the line of contact. Tatoyan recalled the numerous violations of the rights of the residents of Armenian borderline villages due to the direct presence of Azerbaijani troops. He reiterated the need for the withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops and the creation of a demilitarized zone to ensure the rights of residents to the end of the process of determining the border. "The Azerbaijani military not only settled on the territories belonging to the villagers by law, but also made their natural life impossible,” he said.
The ombudsman emphasized that it is not only about the consequences of the May invasion. "The cadastral documents were provided by the Soviet cadastral authorities," the human rights defender recalled. He added that European structures, represented by PACE, share the approach of the necessity of a demilitarized zone. According to him, meetings with international partners show that this approach will find support.
"Unfortunately, there is an opinion that this is unrealistic. This is not true. We do everything to legitimize the presence of Azerbaijani military, and then we say it's unreal. When the Goris-Kapan and Kapan-Chakaten roads were blocked, instead of immediately going to the ECHR, not to mention other bodies, we began to state on an official level that these were Azerbaijani territories, that security was observed and everything was okay. They started praising the alternative roads, hiding problems from international structures, and refuting the Ombudsman. If we had then appealed to the ECHR, the Azerbaijani authorities would have brought statements from the Armenian side," said the Ombudsman.
Tatoyan once again reminded that people's safety must be the guiding principle.
"With all due respect to the Foreign Ministry, the mirror withdrawal violates human rights. Moreover, there are all the grounds, including documents from Soviet times, to remove Azerbaijani military from the territories directly adjacent to the Armenian villages. The process cannot be implemented at the expense of the rights of our citizens," Tatoyan said, reminding that a lot is spoken about maps, but there are different maps and not only maps should be guided by.
"Our policy is going the wrong way. General statements are made without indicating the facts of human rights violations," the ombudsman said, noting that certain statements from Armenia have created serious problems, they legitimize the illegal actions of the Azerbaijani authorities. "They will tell us in international instances, and it happened to me, then you yourself admit that the territory is Azerbaijani," the ombudsman repeated. "And take the situation in the village of Shurnukh, through which the line of contact runs. Can the rights of children be ensured in such a militarized zone, where the Armed Forces of three countries are?" Arman Tatoyan concluded.
Armenpress: Armenian, Austrian FMs discuss issues related to rich agenda of bilateral and multilateral cooperation
Armenian, Austrian FMs discuss issues related to rich agenda of bilateral and multilateral cooperation
21:04, 2 February, 2022
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, ARMENPRESS. On February 2, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan met with Alexander Schallenberg, Federal Minister for European and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria, who is in Yerevan on a working visit. As ARMENPRESS was infomred from the press service of the MFA Armenia, the meeting started with a private talk, then continued in an expanded format with the participation of delegations.
Welcoming Autrian FM Alexander Schalenberg, Ararat Mirzoyan noted ․ "It is noteworthy that the visit takes place in the jubilee year of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Austria. This is an opportunity to outline steps to strengthen political dialogue between our two countries and expand mutually beneficial cooperation."
The Ministers discussed issues related to the rich agenda of bilateral and multilateral cooperation between Armenia and Austria. The development of economic ties between the two countries was highlighted, attaching importance to the activity of the Armenian-Austrian intergovernmental commission on trade-economic-scientific-technical cooperation, as well as the establishment of contacts between the business circles.
Minister Mirzoyan noted with satisfaction Armenia's inclusion in the framework strategic plan of Austrian Development Cooperation 2021-2027, expressing conviction that the latter provides wide opportunities for further progress in the direction of strengthening democracy, protection of human rights and economic development.
The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Austria touched upon international and regional developments. The sides exchanged views on the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey without preconditions.
The ministers discussed the situation created by the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh and its people, as well as the situation created by the invasion of the Azerbaijani armed forces into the sovereign territory of Armenia.
The FMs also touched upon humanitarian issues, in particular, the need for immediate repatriation of Armenian prisoners of war and other detainees, the preservation of the Armenian cultural heritage in the territories under Azerbaijani control, and the unhindered involvement of relevant international organizations on the ground. In this context, Ararat Mirzoyan expressed gratitude for the assistance provided by the Austrian government in overcoming the humanitarian consequences of the 44-day war.
The Ministers stressed the need for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. In this regard, the Armenian Foreign Minister stressed that the Armenian side, among other issues on the agenda, highlights the Co-Chairs' visits to the region.
Ararat Mirzoyan and Alexander Schalenberg also discussed issues related to the Armenia-EU partnership.
It is mentioned that the meeting was followed by a joint press conference of the ministers.
Later, with the participation of the two ministers, the official opening ceremony of the Austrian Development Agency office took place, where Ararat Mirzoyan delivered an opening speech.
In the morning of the same day, the delegation led by the Austrian Federal Minister of European Affairs Alexander Schalenberg, visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial to pay tribute to the memory of the Genocide victims accomponied by Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan.
Keeping Up With The Digital World: Armenian-Language Literature Now More Accessible Than Ever
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Nikol Pashinyan tests positive for Covid-19
panorama.am
Armenia – Jan 26 2022
HEALTH 12:43 26/01/2022 ARMENIA
Nikol Pashinyan has tested positive for Covid-19, the Armenian government said in a statement on Wednesday.
He has self-isolated and has experienced no symptoms so far.
“Prime Minister Pashinyan will continue working remotely,” the statement said.
Last week, he attended Defense Minister Suren Papikyan's big wedding ceremony. It is not ruled out that Pashinyan is not the only infected official.
Pashinyan contracted Covid-19 back in June 2020.