13:41, 16 November, 2021
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire at Armenian positions at the eastern direction of the Armenian border. The shooting took place around 13:00, November 16, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said.
The Armenian military took countermeasures to thwart the adversary’s advance, it added.
“The Ministry of Defense will regularly issue updates on further developments of the situation.”
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Azerbaijani soldiers film Azeri military trucks moving through the town of Lachin on Tuesday. Azerbaijani soldiers and military trucks rolled into the final district given up by Armenia in a peace deal that ended weeks of fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Photo: AFP
Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on Tuesday to a cease-fire at their border, the Armenian defense ministry said, after Russia urged them to step back from confrontation following the deadliest clash since a war in 2020.
Armenia had asked Moscow to help defend it after the worst fighting since a 44-day war in 2020 between ethnic Armenian forces and the Azeri army over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
That conflict ended after Russia, which has a military base in Armenia, brokered a peace deal and deployed almost 2,000 peacekeepers to the region. Turkey took the side of Azerbaijan, which regained swathes of land it lost in an earlier conflict.
"In accordance with an agreement mediated by the Russian side, fire ceased on the eastern section of the Armenian-Azeri border, and the situation is relatively stable," Armenia's defense ministry said.
Azerbaijan's defense ministry did not immediately reply to a Reuters' request for comment.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed the situation by phone, the Kremlin said.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also spoke by phone to the Armenian and Azeri defense ministers by phone, Interfax news agency said.
The Armenian defense ministry said its troops had come under fire from Azerbaijan and that 12 of its soldiers were captured, while two combat positions near the border with Azerbaijan were lost.
Eduard Aghajanian, head of the Armenian parliament's foreign relations committee said that 15 Armenian soldiers had been killed.
The Azeri defense ministry said it had responded to large-scale "provocations" after Armenian forces shelled Azeri army positions, and that its own operation had been successful.
France's foreign ministry had said it was very concerned about the deteriorating situation and called on both countries to respect a cease-fire.
Reuters
After a simple blood test, Hampig Sassounian registered as ABMDR’s newest potential bone marrow stem cell donor.
LOS ANGELES—Hampig Sassounian joined the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry as a potential bone marrow donor. He registered with ABMDR on Wednesday, during a visit to the organization’s Yerevan headquarters.
Sassounian was welcomed to the facility by ABMDR President Dr. Frieda Jordan, Executive Director Dr. Sevak Avagyan, Medical Director Dr. Mihran Nazaretyan, and the staff of the ABMDR Lab.
Hampig Sassounian with ABMDR executives and Lab staff
Sassounian was subsequently given a tour of the premises, which include ABMDR’s HLA Typing Lab and Stem Cell Harvesting Center, and was familiarized with ABMDR’s operations throughout the globe. Following a simple blood test, Sassounian registered as ABMDR’s newest potential bone marrow stem cell donor.
Sassounian said he was highly impressed by the scale and scope of ABMDR’s work worldwide. “I’m very proud to become a potential donor with ABMDR, for a chance to help save the life of a patient who might need a matched donor,” he said. “I encourage all eligible Armenians to join the registry, for the opportunity of giving the gift of life to a patient in need.”
“This is a historic day for ABMDR,” Dr. Sevak Avagyan said. “We are honored that Hampig Sassounian, our national hero, has joined the ABMDR family. Given the unique genetic makeup of ethnic Armenians, it is extremely important to increase the size of our registry, as it is more likely to find a match for an Armenian patient from among Armenian donors than from other ethnic groups.”
Hampig Sassounian with ABMDR Medical Director Dr. Mihran Nazaretyan (second from right) and members of the Lab staff.
“We salute Hampig for his selfless volunteerism and willingness to help our humanitarian mission,” Dr. Frieda Jordan said. “We hope many young people will follow his example.”
About the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry: Established in 1999, ABMDR, a nonprofit organization, helps Armenians and non-Armenians worldwide survive life-threatening blood-related illnesses by recruiting and matching donors to those requiring bone marrow stem cell transplants. To date, the registry has recruited over 32,000 donors in 44 countries across four continents, identified over 9,000 patients, and facilitated 36 bone marrow transplants. For more information, call (323) 663-3609 or visit abmdr.am.
Saturday,
Putin, Pashinian Again Discuss Karabakh In Phone Call
• Heghine Buniatian
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
meet in the Kremlin, Moscow, October 12, 2021.
In a second telephone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
this week Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday again discussed agreements
on Nagorno-Karabakh and the situation in the South Caucasus, the Kremlin said.
In a terse statement the Russian president’s press service said that
“discussions continued on the situation in the region and measures aimed at
stabilizing the situation in the context of the agreements reached on
Nagorno-Karabakh on November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021.”
“Nikol Pashinian expressed his gratitude for Russia’s active mediation efforts,”
the Kremlin said.
The first telephone conversation between the leaders of Russia and Armenia this
week that was held upon the initiative of Pashinian was on November 16. It took
place amid a fresh escalation along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in which at
least 13 troops were killed.
The skirmishes along the border turned out to be the worst Armenian-Azerbaijani
fighting since last year’s 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh that was stopped due
to a Russia-brokered ceasefire.
After that telephone conversation a ceasefire was established along the
un-demarcated border with the mediation of the Russian side.
Two days later, Pashinian announced that the Russian Defense Ministry had
submitted proposals “on the preparatory stage for the demarcation and
delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border”, which he said were acceptable
to Yerevan. Baku has not yet officially responded to those proposals.
Earlier, Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigorian said that
Yerevan intended to apply to Russia in writing for military assistance in
defending its territorial integrity. Official sources, however, do not specify
yet whether such an application has been filed. There is no mention of this in
the Kremlin’s statement today. It is only mentioned that “an agreement has been
reached on further contacts.”
During a news briefing on Friday Eduard Aghajanian, a pro-government lawmaker
who heads the Armenian parliament’s foreign-relations committee, said that after
Armenia’s application to Russia assistance in restoring its territorial
integrity “the problem is expected to be solved as a result of the proposed
demarcation and delimitation process.”
In early November Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that a trilateral
meeting of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia was being prepared in
Moscow. Russian state television Rossia-1 even reported that the meeting could
take place on the first anniversary of the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire on
November 9. Shortly after that announcement Armenia’s prime minister denied that
there was any agreement about such a meeting.
Meanwhile, the European Union said on Friday that during phone talks with
Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, earlier this week
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed to meet on the sidelines
of the EU’s Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels on December 15.
“During the phone calls, the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders have also agreed
to establish a direct communication line, at the level of respective Ministers
of Defense, to serve as an incident prevention mechanism,” the EU said.
Both Yerevan and Baku have confirmed the upcoming meeting in Brussels.
Armenian FM Says Turkey Sets New Conditions For Normalization
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan being interviewed by a reporter
Turkey sets new conditions for normalizing its relations with Armenia, Foreign
Minister Ararat Mirozyan said in a recent interview with the French Le Figaro
daily that was published this week.
Talking to the newspaper during his recent visit to Paris on November 11,
Mirzoyan stressed that Armenia has always supported normalization of relations
with Turkey without preconditions and is ready for that now despite the “huge
Turkish support” for Azerbaijan in the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“We have received positive signals from Turkey to reopen the dialogue, but it
remains complicated. Ankara sets new conditions. Among them is a “corridor”
connecting Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan,” the top Armenian diplomat said in the
interview the transcript of which the Armenian Foreign Ministry released on
November 20.
Unblocking all transport links in the region is part of a Russia-brokered
ceasefire that stopped the 44-day fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh last year. This
includes Azerbaijan’s access to its Nakhichevan exclave via Armenian territory.
In the post-war talks Baku appears to have insisted on the exterritorial status
of the future road that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev calls the Zangezur
corridor.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has rejected what he calls “corridor
logic” for unblocking transport routes in the region.
Foreign Minister Mirzoyan also told the French daily that the demand for what
Azerbaijan seeks as an exterritorial corridor cannot be a subject of discussion.
“States must allow transit while maintaining sovereignty over their territory.
All transport links in the region must be reopened,” Mirzoyan added.
Turkey has long been a key regional ally of Azerbaijan and has kept its border
with Armenia closed for nearly three decades, due to what it said was Armenia’s
occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts, an issue that was
resolved by the cease-fire deal.
The Armenian foreign minister also said that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh
remained tense.
“Over the past year Azerbaijan has committed about 30 serious violations of the
ceasefire, as a result of which there have been casualties on the Armenian side.
Civilians have also been killed. Nevertheless, Armenia is making every effort to
establish lasting peace in the region. However, in order for this process to be
effective, these efforts must be bilateral,” Mirzoyan said.
Mirzoyan stressed that Armenia is ready to hand over to Azerbaijan all the maps
of minefields in the region that it has its disposal. However, he said,
Azerbaijan, “despite having an obligation, does not release Armenian prisoners
of war.”
“While we talk about peace, Azerbaijan multiplies xenophobic statements. This is
evidenced by the speeches of the president of Azerbaijan, the “Trophy Park” that
was opened in Baku last spring, where Armenians are presented in a humiliated
and ridiculed way,” the Armenian foreign minister said.
Mirzoyan also stressed the need for resuming talks under the auspices of the
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. “Certainly, the issue of the final settlement of the
conflict remains on the agenda. But at this stage we have agreed to go forward
by taking small steps, such as to secure the release of prisoners of war and
access of international organizations, including UNESCO, to Nagorno-Karabakh for
humanitarian purposes,” Mirzoyan said.
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.
BAKU, November 20. /TASS/. The Azerbaijani side agreed to the EU’s offer to hold a meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia within the framework of the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels, the press service of the republic’s Foreign Ministry reported on Saturday.
"The Azerbaijani side is always open to political dialogue and treats such contacts positively. In this context, the Azerbaijani side agreed to the offer of the head of the European Council to organize a meeting of the leaders of the two countries (Azerbaijan and Armenia) with the EU’s mediation within the framework of the Brussels summit," the statement on the ministry’s website said.
The press service specified that Azerbaijan’s position in the post-conflict period was repeatedly expressed by the country’s President Ilham Aliyev, including on international venues. "We think that the Brussels summit and the meeting planned within its framework will create additional opportunities in this sphere," the statement stressed.
On Friday, the European Council issued a statement on an agreement of its President Charles Michel with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to meet in Brussels within the framework of the Eastern Partnership summit on December 15 "to discuss the regional situation and ways of overcoming tensions for a prosperous and stable South Caucasus.".
Armenia confirms its participation in Yerevan-Baku summit in Brussels in the sidelines of EU's Eastern Partnership
16:56,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has agreed to participate in the Yerevan-Baku summit in Brussels in the sidelines of EU's Eastern Partnership on December 15, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia Vahan Hunanyan told ARMENPRESS.
On November 19, the EU issued a statement, saying “President Charles Michel of the European Council held phone calls on 19 November with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia, in follow up to discussions earlier this week on the situation in the region and in the context of preparations of the Eastern Partnership Summit, to be held in Brussels on 15 December.
President Charles Michel proposed to host President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for a meeting in Brussels in the margins of the EaP Summit.
Leaders have agreed to meet in Brussels to discuss the regional situation and ways of overcoming tensions for a prosperous and stable South Caucasus, which the EU supports.
During the phone calls, the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders have also agreed to establish a direct communication line, at the level of respective Ministers of Defence, to serve as an incident prevention mechanism".
Azerbaijan has also agreed to participate in the summit.
To answer the question of the possible exchange of territories, we must go through the whole process of [border] delimitation and demarcation. Eduard Aghajanyan, a member of the majority "Civil Contract" Faction in the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia and Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, stated this Friday during the traditional press briefings at the NA.
The reporters were trying to get clarifications on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's recent statements. For example, he had stated that after May 12, about 41 square kilometers of Armenian territory had come under the control of the Azerbaijani armed forces. Moreover, he noted that after the First Karabakh War in the early 1990s, approximately the same amount of territory of the former Azerbaijan SSR had come under the control of the Armenian side. In this context, the reporters asked whether there could be an exchange of territories.
And the representatives of the parliamentary majority, in fact, did not rule out the possibility of an "exchange of territories" as a result of the border delimitation and demarcation process.
Thus, according to Aghajanyan, we are talking about a rather considerable amount of work.
"I believe you can imagine how much work this process assumes. I believe that as a result of quite a long work, the committee that shall be formed [in this regard] shall give an answer to that question. At the moment, I do not imagine what maps will be used and what logic the parties will be guided by. It seems to me that at this stage this issue is premature," said Aghajanyan.
19:08,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. The narrow-format sitting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council took place in Yerevan, which was attended by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Roman Golovchenko, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin, Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Akylbek Japarov and Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mikhail Myasnikovich.
First, Prime Minister Pashinyan met the partners of the EEU member states, then a ceremonial photoshoot took place.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, at the beginning of the narrow-format sitting, Nikol Pashinyan delivered a welcoming speech, where he particularly said,
“Honorable Heads of Government,
I welcome all of you in Armenia at the regular session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council.
I am glad to welcome the Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, respectful Akylbek Usenbekovich Japarov, and wish him fruitful work in his responsible post.
Today's meeting is a very significant event for us. We are glad to have the opportunity to receive distinguished guests in Yerevan, to hold a meeting of the Intergovernmental Council and thereby contribute to the strengthening of our Union.
Cooperation within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union is one of the priorities of our Government. We are ready to further continue making every possible effort to improve the mechanisms of cooperation and the effective functioning of the integration space.
Dear colleagues, I wish you all fruitful work and constructive discussion.
We tried to create the most comfortable atmosphere for our meeting. I hope we will be able not only to work on the issues on the agenda, but also to take the opportunity for direct communication and exchange of views”.
Afterwards, the participants of the sitting proceeded to the discussion of the issues on the agenda. In particular, a wide range of issues related to the development of cooperation in the fields of industry, agriculture and healthcare within the EEU was touched upon. Issues related to the introduction of new regulations in the markets of different spheres, customs regulations, as well as the EEU 2022 budget were also discussed.
The expanded-format sitting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council will be held on November 19.
13:07,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia says the government’s 2022 state budget draft is quite ambitious. According to the CBA, there will be a certain decline in the debt burden in 2022.
“Overall, it can be said that the 2022 state budget draft is quite ambitious, compared to the government’s medium-term expenditure program, it supposes significant acceleration of the economic growth and potential”, CBA President Martin Galstyan said during today’s debate of the budget draft in the Parliament and reminded that 7% economic growth has been forecast for 2022.
He said that the economic growth of 2022 will be based on large-scale state investments in infrastructure and human capital development areas.
“The quick restoration of gross demand, connected with the increase in both the domestic and external demand, will continue in 2022”, he said, while presenting the CBA conclusion on the budget draft.
As a result of economic recovery, tax administration and legislative reforms, it is expected that the taxes-GDP rate in 2022 will have a 0.9% growth, in case of which the state budget revenues will have a restraining effect on the gross demand. “On the other hand, the 2022 state expenditure policy will be directed to growth promotion, targeting the significant increase in share of public investments and management of the efficiency of spending, at the same time returning to the set fiscal rules”, he said.
Cut in state budget deficit is expected in 2022, by 1.6 percentage point against GDP. “According to our estimations, it will comprise 3.1%, a 0.7% decline in government debt-GDP rate, which will comprise 60.2%”, Martin Galstyan said. “It is estimated that the smooth consolidation behavior and the preservation of the fiscal rules as enshrined by the 2022 state budget draft will contribute to reducing Armenia’s state debt burden and ensuring macro-economic stability”.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
COVID-19: Sweden removes entry ban for vaccinated citizens of Armenia
10:59,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. Fully vaccinated citizens of Armenia will soon be able to travel to Sweden without being subject to the entry ban or additional travel rules such as COVID-19 testing requirements, the Swedish government said in a statement.
“The Government today adopted amendments to the temporary ban on entry into Sweden. The amendments primarily mean that additional people who can present a vaccine certificate issued in Armenia are exempted from the entry ban and test requirement”, the statement says.
The amendments will enter into force on 15 November 2021.
The Government’s decision means that people travelling to Sweden who can present a vaccination certificate issued in Armenia are exempt from the entry ban and test requirement. According to a European Commission decision, vaccination certificates issued in Armenia are equivalent to the EU Digital COVID certificate, which means that such certificates can be checked and verified in the same manner and using the same technical systems as the EU certificate.