Armenia beat the Spain 3.5-0.5 in the fourth round of the FIDE World Women's Team Championship 2021 being held in Sitges, Spain.
In the first three rounds, Armenia—which are in Group A—had defeated France, played a draw with Azerbaijan, lost to India, and are second, with 5 team points, securing their place in the quarterfinals before the last round.
The national teams that take the first four places in their respective groups will advance to the playoffs.
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, member of the opposition “Armenia” faction of the National Assembly Ishkhan Saghatelyan has tested positive for COVID-19 and postponed his meeting with the Ambassador of the Russian Federation.
According to Armenian News-NEWS.am’s reports, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin was supposed to visit the National Assembly and meet with Saghatelyan tomorrow, but the meeting has been postponed since Saghatelyan will be self-isolated for the next few days.
The office of the deputy parliamentary speaker confirmed the news.
14:50, 21 September, 2021
LONDON, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The UK Minister for European Neighbourhood and the Americas at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Wendy Morton released a congratulatory statement on the Armenian Independence Day.
“Congratulations to Armenia as it celebrates 30 years of independence!” Morton tweeted. “! I was delighted to visit Armenia in February, and the UK will continue to be a proud supporter of Armenia’s democratic and economic development.”
11:20, 13 September, 2021
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Hayastan opposition bloc lawmaker Vahe Hakobyan is warning that Azerbaijan could cut off the town of Kapan from the rest of Armenia at any moment.
“The Azerbaijani side has set up a police checkpoint on the Vorotan road,” he told reporters in parliament. “Videos posted online show, and according to my information, the Azerbaijanis are stopping Iranian cargo trucks and are demanding some kind of a customs duty and then only allow them to proceed,” Hakobyan said, adding that the Armenian National Security Service’s latest statement over the matter where the security agency described Vorotan by an Azerbaijani toponym is perplexing. “What does this mean? Does this mean that little by little they want to make us think that indeed that’s an Azerbaijani territory?”
According to Hakobyan, who served as Governor of Syunik in the past, today there is no other top priority issue than Syunik.
“The Azerbaijani side could cut off Kapan at any moment. The immediate ousting of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan would be the solution to all problems,” he said.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
14:08, 13 September, 2021
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian’s Purgatorio – based on the eponymous second part of Dante’s Divine Comedy was played at the Ravenna Festival in Italy on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the Italian poet’s death.
The concert was conducted by Riccardo Muti.
Speaking to ARMENPRESS, Mansurian praised the excellent performance. “What Riccardo Muti did with the orchestra, the choir, baritone Gurgen Baveyan and cellist Giovanni Sollima was dimply wonderful. I’ve rarely heard such good performance. There’ve been good performances, but very few like this. I am very happy. The audience was also happy and accepted Purgatorio very well. I think one of my best works was born on the 700th anniversary of death of Dante,” Mansurian said.
Venice’s Center of Armenian Culture Studies and Documentation Director Minas Luryan said that Muti wanted to cooperate with Mansurian and Sollima very much for the event. Sollima also wrote the music for Divine Comedy’s Hell, while the music for Heaven was written by Valentin Silvestrov.
“Muti decided that he’d conduct only Mansurian’s work, while the other works would be conducted by younger conductors,” Luryan said, adding that more concerts are planned in Italy soon.
A concert is due September 14 in the opera theater of Florence, and at the Philharmonic hall of Verona on September 15.
Angela Hambardzumyan
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
FC Van played against FC Ararat-Armenia in the sixth round of the championship of the Armenian Premier League and were defeated in the added time.
FC Ararat-Armenia’s Brazilian midfielder Luis Menezes scored a goal in the 34th minute.
In the added minute, FC Ararat-Armenia’s goal was scored by midfielder Artyom Avanesyan. The victorious goal of the guests in the added fourth minute was scored by winger Mailson Lima.
FC Ararat-Armenia are on top of the championship table with 18 points and 3 points ahead of FC Ararat-Armenia, which are in second place. FC Van are in 6th place with 7 points.
Armenian football championship, 6th round
FC Van-FC Ararat-Armenia: 1-2
Luis Menezes, 34 – Artyom Avanesyan, 90+1, Mailson Lima, 90+4
14:53, 8 September, 2021
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Russian Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev died during the drills in the Arctic city of Norilsk as he was saving other person’s life, TASS reports citing the ministry.
“We regret to report that the head of the Emergencies Ministry, Yevgeny Zinichev, tragically died rescuing a human life as he was fulfilling his duty in Norilsk during the inter-agency drills on protecting the Arctic zone from emergency situations”, the ministry stated.
Monday,
Prosecutors Challenge Kocharian’s Acquittal In Another Court
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- The Court of Appeals starts hearings on prosecutors’ demands to
overturn a lower court’s decision to throw out coup charges that were brought
against former President Robert Kocharian, .
Armenia’s Court of Appeals opened on Monday hearings on prosecutors’ demands to
overturn a lower court’s decision to throw out coup charges that were brought
against former President Robert Kocharian.
Kocharian and three other former officials were prosecuted in connection with
the 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan. Anna Danibekian, a district court
judge presiding over their trial, acquitted them in early April ten days after
the country’s Constitutional Court declared the charges unconstitutional.
The trial prosecutors appealed against the acquittal. One of them, Gevorg
Baghdasarian, said on Monday that the Court of Appeals must allow investigators
to charge the defendants with abuse of power and order Danibekian to resume the
high-profile trial.
Baghdasarian said that is also essential for protecting the rights of the
families of eight opposition protesters and two police servicemen killed in
street clashes that broke out in Yerevan in the wake of a disputed 2008
presidential election.
The vote was held less than two months before Kocharian completed his second and
final term in office.
Armenia - Former President Robert Kocharian greets supporters during an election
campaign rally in Yerevan, June 18, 2021.
Kocharian, his former chief of staff Armen Gevorgian and two retired army
generals reject the accusations leveled against them as politically motivated.
Lawyers representing them maintain that Danibekian’s decision to clear them of
the alleged “overthrow of the constitutional order” stemmed from Armenian law.
The judge also ruled on April 6 that Kocharian and Gevorgian will continue to
stand trial on bribery charges which they also strongly deny. Court hearings on
that case resumed in July.
Kocharian, who is highly critical of Armenia’s current leadership, was first
arrested in July 2018 shortly after the “velvet revolution” that brought
Pashinian to power. He was set free on bail in June 2020.
The ex-president, who will turn 67 on Tuesday, set up an opposition alliance in
May this year. It finished second in parliamentary elections held on June 20.
Armenian Pro-Government Lawmaker Encouraged By Erdogan’s Statement
• Artak Khulian
Bosnia and Herzegovina -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits
Sarajevo, August 27, 2021.
An Armenian pro-government parliamentarian on Monday hailed Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s stated readiness to normalize Turkey’s relations with
Armenia.
Opposition lawmakers insisted, by contrast, Ankara continues to set unacceptable
preconditions for establishing diplomatic relations with Yerevan and opening the
Turkish-Armenian border.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian spoke on Friday of “some positive signals” sent
by Ankara of late, saying that his government is ready to reciprocate them.
Commenting on Pashinian’s remark the following day, Erdogan said regional states
should establish “good-neighborly relations” by recognizing each other’s
territorial integrity and sovereignty.
“If Yerevan is ready to move in that direction Ankara could start working on a
gradual normalization of relations with Armenia,” he reportedly told journalists.
In that context, Erdogan noted that Azerbaijan has expressed readiness to
negotiate a comprehensive “peace treaty” with Armenia after last year’s war in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev complained in July that Yerevan is reluctant
to sign such a treaty with Baku which would commit the two sides to recognizing
each other’s territorial integrity. This would presumably mean a formal Armenian
recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh.
The Armenian government maintains that the disputed territory’s status should be
determined only through renewed peace talks mediated by the United States,
Russia and France.
Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and
their wives visit the Nagorno-Karabakh town of Shusha/Shushi, June 15, 2021.
The government did not officially react to Erdogan’s latest statement as of
Monday afternoon. Still, Maria Karapetian, a parliament deputy representing the
ruling Civil Contract party, described it as a “positive message for discussing
regional peace.”
“This is just an indirect exchange of public messages,” she told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service.
Karapetian, who is a member of the parliament committee on foreign relations,
said Erdogan’s remarks contained no preconditions unacceptable to the Armenian
side.
Senior members of the two opposition groups represented in the Armenian
parliament claimed the opposite. They said the Turks want Yerevan to agree to
the restoration of Azerbaijani control over entire Karabakh and to stop
campaigning for greater international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide
in the Ottoman Empire.
“Throughout his tenure Erdogan has periodically made such statements and has
been rebuffed by the Armenian authorities and told to talk to Armenia, open the
border and normalize relations without preconditions. Now Erdogan is coming up
with a huge package of preconditions,” said Gegham Manukian of the Hayastan
alliance.
“The current authorities must categorically reject all those preconditions,” he
told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “But judging from their actions and constant
readiness to make concessions, I have no such hope.”
Tigran Abrahamian, a senior lawmaker from the Pativ Unem bloc, said, for his
part, that Ankara and Baku continue to coordinate their actions relating to the
Karabakh conflict. He said those include Azerbaijani cross-border incursions
into Armenian territory and Aliyev’s regular threats to forcibly open a
“corridor” connecting Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave via Armenia’s Syunik
province.
Turkey provided Azerbaijan with strong diplomatic and military support during
the six-week war stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire last November. It has
kept its border with Armenia closed since 1993.
Armenian Official Comments On ‘Russian Objections’ To His Ministerial Job
• Harry Tamrazian
Armenia - Acting Foreign Minister Armen Grigorian speaks at a news conference in
Yerevan, August 16, 2021.
A senior official in Yerevan has implicitly denied reports that Russia blocked
his widely anticipated appointment as Armenia’s new foreign minister.
Armen Grigorian was the secretary of the Armenian government’s Security Council
before being named first deputy foreign minister on July 14 in what some
political allies of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian described as a prelude to his
appointment as the country’s new top diplomat.
The key ministerial post remained vacant, however, even after Pashinian
handpicked in early August the 13 other members of his new cabinet formed as a
result of the June 20 parliamentary elections.
Media reports claimed that the prime minister is having second thoughts about
appointing Grigorian as foreign minister because of Russian objections.
Grigorian, 37, worked for or cooperated otherwise with Western-funded civic
groups and criticized Russia up until the 2018 “velvet revolution” that brought
Pashinian to power.
Pashinian gave the job to another ally, former parliament speaker Ararat
Mirzoyan, and sent Grigorian back to the Security Council on August 18.
In a weekend interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, Grigorian insisted that
Pashinian still had no “final decision” on whom to name foreign minister when he
began effectively running the Armenian Foreign Ministry in July.
Asked whether Russia indeed thwarted his ministerial appointment, Grigorian
said: “I have worked with Moscow very productively for the last three years.”
He specifically claimed to have enjoyed a good rapport with Nikolay Patrushev,
the influential secretary of Russia’s Secretary Council.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov congratulated Mirzoyan, his new Armenian
counterpart, on August 20. The two men are scheduled to meet in Moscow on
Tuesday.
Armenia’s previous foreign minister, Ara Ayvazian, stepped down on May 27 amid
mounting tensions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. At a May 31 farewell
meeting with the Armenian Foreign Ministry staff, he signaled strong objections
to Pashinian’s policies on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and national security.
All of Ayvazian’s four deputies tendered their resignations in the following
days. Three of them -- Artak Apitonian, Avet Adonts and Gagik Ghalechian -- were
formally relieved of their duties on June 8.
Adonts launched a thinly veiled attack on Pashinian in an open-ad article
published by the Mediamax news agency on June 24 He said that Armenia’s and
Nagorno-Karabakh’s security is being jeopardized by “emotional and primitive
one-man governance.”
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
15:06, 26 August, 2021
YEREVAN, AUGUST 26, ARMENPRESS. Chairwoman of the Armenian parliamentary standing committee on protection of human rights and public affairs Taguhi Tovmasyan has applied to international organizations over the violations of human rights by Azerbaijan in Armenia’s Syunik province.
“Dear compatriots, as you know, 50 or more Azerbaijani armed servicemen have blocked the inter-state road leading from Goris to Kapan near the village of Davit Bek in Syunik province and refuse to unblock it. Today we were also informed that the Azerbaijani servicemen blocked the road from Goris to Vorotan.
I have sent reports over this impressible behavior of Azerbaijan, the violations of the rights of our civilian population, including women, children and elderly, to the offices of international structures dealing with human rights.
These actions of Azerbaijan restrict person’s internationally recognized fundamental rights and should be viewed by the international structures as a hostile action and hostility against the Armenian civilian population”, the lawmaker said in a statement on social media.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
21:04, 28 July, 2021
YEREVAN, JULY 28, ARMENPRESS. The UN is concerned over the rising escalation of situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, ARMENPRESS reports Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General told the reporters, commenting on the military operations unleashed by the Azerbaijani side on July 28.
‘’We are following the information about the tense situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border with increasing concern, including the recent incident about which we informed today. Though the UN cannot verify the information, we urge the sides to demonstrate restraint and avoid any activity that can lead to escalation and solve the issue through dilogue’’, Haq said.
The Azerbaijani armed forces attacked Armenia's borders in the section of Verin Shorzha-Sotk (Gegharkunik Province) on July 28. MoD Armenia informed that as a result of the Azerbaijani provocation 3 Armenian servicemen were killed, 4 were injured.