Author: Arpi Talalian

Yerevan expects political will and concrete steps from Ankara: Mirzoyan

Arpi Talalian
ARMINFO
Armenia – July 9 2022
Naira Badalian

ArmInfo.In order to achieve success in the normalization of Armenian- Turkish relations today, a political will and readiness to undertake concrete steps towards this  process are necessary. The Armenian side has repeatedly demonstrated  both and we expect the same from the Turkish side. Armenian Foreign  Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated this in an interview with the Greek  "Kathimerini" newspaper. The press service of the RA MFA reports.

The Head of the  RA MFA noted, that the leadership of Armenia stated  many times and it is also mentioned in our Government program that  Armenia is ready for the establishment of diplomatic relations with  Turkey and opening of the border between our countries that Turkey  unilaterally closed back in 1993.

The Minister also recalled that, the Special Representatives have  been appointed for the process of normalization of relations between  Armenia and Turkey and four meetings have already been held where the  sides reiterated their commitment to continue the process without any  preconditions with the goal of opening the borders and establishing  diplomatic relations. "To give a positive dynamic to that process I  accepted the invitation of the Foreign Minister of Turkey to  participate in the Antalya Diplomatic Forum and met with my  counterpart on the margins of the Forum.  Today, a political will and  readiness to undertake concrete steps towards normalizing relations  are necessary for the success of the process. The Armenian side has  repeatedly demonstrated both and we expect the same from the Turkish  side," he noted.

It should be reminded that on July 1 the fourth meeting of Special  Representatives for the process of normalization of relations between  Armenia and Turkey, Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia  Ruben Rubinyan and Ambassador Serdar Kilic took place in Vienna. The  parties agreed to ensure, as soon as possible, the possibility of  crossing the Armenian-Turkish land border for citizens of third  countries visiting Armenia and Turkey, respectively, and decided to  start the necessary processes in this direction. They also agreed to  start as soon as possible the implementation of direct air  transportation of goods between Armenia and Turkey and decided to  start the necessary processes in this direction. Finally, the parties  reiterated their agreement to continue the normalization process  without preconditions.  The start of the normalization process was  announced on December 13, 2021 by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut  Cavusoglu. At the same time, he stressed that Ankara will act in  coordination with Azerbaijan regarding steps to normalize relations  with Armenia. 

CivilNet: Aghavno and Berdzor Armenians may be relocated to two nearby villages

Arpi Talalian
CIVILNET.AM

01 Jul, 2022 10:07

Armenia’s parliament voted 66-0 at a special session to remove two prominent opposition deputies, Ishkhan Saghatelyan and Vahe Hakobyan, from their leadership positions for excessive absenteeism.

The residents of Aghavno and Berdzor may be relocated to the nearby villages of Hin Shen and Mets Shen, says Artsakh’s Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan. This comes after Armenia and Artsakh’s leadership confirmed that the Berdzor subregion will be handed to Azerbaijan in accordance with the November 9, 2020 statement.

Armenia and US sign $120 million grant agreement

Arpi Talalian
Public Radio of Armenia
June 29 2022
June 29, 2022, 19:39

 1 minute read

Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan and USAID Mission Director for Armenia John Allelo signed a 5-year Development Objectives Grant Agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the United States of America, under which a $120 million grant assistance will be provided to Armenia.

The agreement is aimed at strengthening democratic values and ensuring economic stability.

Representatives of both USAID and Armenian state institutions were present at the signing ceremony.

“On behalf of the Government and on my personal behalf I would like to thank you for the assistance provided to Armenia, emphasizing that the directions set by the agreement are of great importance for overcoming the economic challenges Armenia faces in this difficult period, as well as for sustainable development and strengthening democracy in the country,” Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan said.

“I would like to especially thank all our government counterparts who have been instrumental in reviewing this agreement. Your time, feedback, and investment in crafting this document, and making this day a reality, highlights our commitment to shared values and initiatives. The United States remains committed to supporting Armenia on its democratic and economic reforms” Mission Director John Allelo said.

The agreement aims at promoting transparency and accountability in the public administration, strengthening local governance capacity, as well as participatory and inclusive electoral and political processes and the rule of law. The programs to be implemented under the agreement will promote inclusive participation of citizens in governance, facilitate access to independent and diversified sources of information. In order to strengthen economic stability, the programs will aim at increasing the competitiveness of the private sector, strengthening the workforce, and sustainable management of natural resources.

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 30-06-22

Arpi Talalian

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 17:18,

YEREVAN, 30 JUNE, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 30 June, USD exchange rate down by 1.10 drams to 407.21 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 6.21 drams to 423.54 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.08 drams to 7.75 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 3.61 drams to 492.81 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 81.35 drams to 23798.17 drams. Silver price down by 4.15 drams to 274.61 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.

On more Russian military base in Armenia project with ambitious goals – Saro Saroyan

Arpi Talalian
ARMINFO
Armenia –
David Stepanyan

ArmInfo.The Russian military contingent is performing three major tasks in the South Caucasus: ensuring Armenia's security in Turkey's direction, carrying out a  peacekeeping mission in Artsakh and, now, ensuring the security along  the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, independent analyst Saro Saroyan  said in an interview with ArmInfo. 

"I mean the earth works, presence of building machinery, visits of  Russian military personnel to Berd. The local residents report  problems involving the territorial jurisdiction. So the issue of  construction of a Russian military base in Berd has remained  unsettled for over a month. However, the very intention to construct  a base there is evidence of the current situation along the  Armenian-Azerbaijani border," he said. 

The Zhoghovurd (People) newspaper earlier reported that Armenia's  government approved a decision on deployment of one more Russian  military base in Armenia's north-west, in Berd, Tavush province.  Planned redeployment of Russian troops was reported as well. However,  a high-ranking official of Armenia's security services stated  recently that the rumors were unfounded.

According to Mr Saroyan, the situation can be understood in the  context of geographical location of the prospective Russian military  base – exactly along the midline of the Armenian-Azerbaijani and  Georgian- Iranian borders. Thus, it is Berd that s the most  convenient location for guarding the trunk line and deploying Russian  frontier posts both along the northern and southern sections of the  border. 

"Russia needed that to accomplish its own political and geopolitical  tasks – under the pretext of ensuring Armenia's security. Russian  troops' presence along the border with Azerbaijan is Moscow's trump  card in its future relations – or rather, bargaining – with Ankara,  which will henceforth be capable of influencing the situation on the  Armenian-Azerbaijani border only by means of agreements with Russia.  This situation is the result of the fallacious Armenian political  thought that Armenia is allegedly sacrificing its independent  decisions to security. In fact, however, Armenia, after losing part  of its sovereignty, is receiving new threats," Mr Saroyan said.

Sports: Staying in their lane: Junior Olympics, Armenian Youth Olympics bringing events to Clinton

Arpi Talalian
Jan Gottesman

The Item

CLINTON – How attractive are the Clinton track and field facilities across from Clinton High School on Route 110?

Two large events – the Junior Olympics of the U.S. Track and Field of New England and the Armenian Youth Olympics – will be taking place there this summer.

The USTF event is Saturday, June 18, and the Armenian Youth Olympics is Sunday, Sept. 4.

"Both of these all-day events will be held at our prestigious Veterans Athletic Complex and we anticipate 1,000 competitors and 3,000 spectators throughout the day for The Junior Olympics," according to the Clinton Athletics Facebook post. "The track and the surrounding parking lots will be in extreme use on those days."

"These organizations reached out to me because of hardships that have occurred for scheduling events as some college venues are still not prepared to host these types of events," Clinton Athletic Director John Smith said. "I spoke to David Vanasse about it since we all know Dave is a highly respected track enthusiast throughout Central Mass. and he took the ball and got it rolling."

In addition to coach Clinton High track, Vanasse is also the district's food service director.

Vanasse said the USTF thought Clinton was a good location because of its central location in New England.

"I brought the director here and he loved it. The facility had everything he wanted," Vanasse said. That includes an eight-lane track. "There are not any at a high school level that has eight lanes all around, and not just the straight away. "He fell in love with the facility."

Part of the requirements were parking, and the three lots – between the Veterans Complex, the middle and high schools – met their need. So did facilities like bathroom and concession stand. Vanasse said the agreement includes that the concessions will be run locally and benefit the Clinton Track program.

The concession stand is a "state-of-the-art concession stand" that was updated and used during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the food services department used all facilities available to run its program and deliver meals to students working remotely.

"It was another area we could prepare food and work out of," Vanasse said.

The person organizing the Armenian Youth Olympics was also impressed by the facilities and decided to hold that event in Clinton.

The USTF program will be the larger of the two. In 2019, they had 800 elite athletes compete, ages 8 to 18, so they are geared up to handle 1,000 to 2,000 spectators.

The Armenian event should have 100 to 150 competitors.

For the June 18 competition, there will be police officers to help pedestrians cross Route 110 and an EMT on site. Vanasse will be there as the director of the track to make things go smoothly. The competition is scheduled for 9 a.m. to about 6 or 7 p.m.

"I was thinking outside the box and how phenomenal it will be for the town and Clinton track," Vanasse said. "People will ride by and see thousands of people enjoying the facility and it could bring people to town to shop at businesses in the future. This is the first time we have done something like this and hopefully they will come back."

Statements of Azerbaijani officials should be discussed within the CSTO – PM Pashinyan

Arpi Talalian
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia –
, 19:24

 4 minutes read

Statements made by Azerbaijani officials should be discussed in the CSTO format, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a meeting with members of the CSTO Committee of Security Council Secretaries – Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Alexander Volfovich, Secretary of the Security Council of Kazakhstan Gizat Nurdauletov, Secretary of the Security Council of Tajikistan Nasrullo Makhmudzoda, and CSTO Secretary General Secretary General of the CSTO Stanislav Zas.

In his opening remarks, PM Pashinyan said:

“Dear friends,

I welcome you on the occasion of the regular sitting of the Committee of Secretaries of the Security Councils of the CSTO member states in the Republic of Armenia, which is taking place in our country within the framework of Armenia’s chairmanship in the CSTO.

This is really a double jubilee year for our organization. We are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Collective Security Treaty, the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and it is a great honor for us to chair our organization in this jubilee year. You know, we have discussed it many times, increasing the efficiency of the CSTO is one of the most important priorities of our presidency, we thought and still think that the rapid and crisis response mechanisms in specific situations should be improved.

I would like to note that, in principle, we also have a legal framework in this regard, On December 10, 2010, by the decision of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a provision was adopted regulating CSTO’s response to crisis situations, and I think this document quite clearly defines the mechanisms that exist in our Organization. In particular, it outlines what we should consider a crisis situation and how we should respond to it.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that there is such a concept in that provision – “mission”, which is defined as follows: A group of experts from the member states appointed by the CSTO member states in accordance with this provision, to be temporarily sent to the crisis zone to monitor the situation, understand the situation on the spot, develop proposals on the further measures of the Organization aimed at preventing the crisis situation and solving it, as well as for fulling other functions defined by the CSTO Collective Security Council.

I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that in the second chapter of this document there is a chapter called “Monitoring”, and the CSTO Secretariat regularly collects information and conducts analysis of the situation in the area of responsibility of the organization and on its development trends in order to identify the preconditions for crisis situations.

Why am I talking about this? You know that the Azerbaijani armed forces invaded our territory in May last year, and we applied to the CSTO. I have spoken about it many times, and as the Chairman, I want to emphasize that this issue should be discussed properly. Why? Because we see that aggressive statements by Azerbaijan continue, we should discuss this issue, especially considering that Armenia has applied to the CSTO, as it is a very fundamental issue for both us and the Organization.

I would also like to mention the following: After the invasion into our territory by the Azerbaijani troops, there were some comments that there is no demarcated border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Frankly, this is a very dangerous wording, because here we are, saying the area of responsibility of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. If we say that the borders along which the demarcation and delimitation processes have been carried out should be taken into account, it may confuse the notion of the CSTO area of responsibility, because the question arises: where does the CSTO area of responsibility begin, where does the CSTO area of responsibility end?

Our position is that there is a concrete border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, because in 1991, when the Commonwealth of Independent States was established, an interstate agreement was signed, which clearly states that the countries mutually recognize each other’s existing borders. This refers to the administrative boundaries of the Soviet period, and I think we should have this as a starting point. The opposite interpretation of this situation, I think, will reduce the effectiveness of the CSTO.

I hope that the nuances mentioned during this meeting and during your sitting will also be discussed. I recently raised this issue during the informal CSTO summit in Moscow. We have started a discussion, once again, as the Chairman, I would like to instruct the CSTO Secretary General to organize this issue in accordance with our charter documents, as the situation in our region is stable but tense. And the statements made by Azerbaijani officials should be a warning sign, I think we should discuss this issue in the CSTO format.

Let me welcome you once, I’m so glad to see you. And I am very happy for the dynamics that occured in the CSTO in the post-Covid period, because in the last two years we have actually had very little contact with the existing’s formats. Of course, we have continued to work online, but I think we all agree that such meetings and contacts are very important for our work. I am glad that we returned to this regime, it happened in the year of our presidency, in this important jubilee year.”

The Prime Minister discussed issues related to the agenda and activities of the Organization with the Secretaries of the Security Councils of the CSTO member states. The participants of the sitting exchanged views on regional and international security challenges.

PM calls on people of Armenia to unite around peace agenda

Arpi Talalian

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 15:38,

YEREVAN, JUNE 15, ARMENPRESS. No one could guarantee that the peace agenda will succeed, but the government of Armenia has a will, determination to pass that path, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in the Parliament during the debate of the 2021 state budget performance report.

“Our ship of Armenian statehood has appeared in a whirlpool of a turbulent storm, because, in fact, the whole world has appeared in the whirlpool of a turbulent storm”, he said.

The PM noted that the only guarantee for the state and the security is the comprehensive peace. According to him, the comprehensive security is when the issues with neighbors are solved, settled, the borders are demarcated and delimited, and the peace is established de jure.

“Now we are trying to move on this path. Whether we will succeed, no one could guarantee because peace is not a unilateral movement, it is a result of cooperation. We have no illusions and see that the number of those who want to eliminate us is greater than we imagine. And the peace agenda is an attempt to manage and neutralize the desires existing in the world to eliminate us. No one could guarantee that the peace agenda will succeed. This is a path for us accompanied by insults, accusations, threats, dangers and losses both inside and outside. And we have a will, determination to pass this path despite that no one could give a guarantee to success”, the PM added.

However, the PM said he could guarantee one thing for sure that the opposite path leads not only to the destruction of Nagorno Karabakh, but also Armenia. “And we, of course, cannot allow this. Therefore, I call on the Armenian people, the people of Armenia to unite around the peace agenda, around the Armenian statehood and its interests because there is nothing more important and higher than Armenia and its state interests”, he said.

Opposition MP reiterates need for sweeping army reforms

Arpi Talalian
Panorama
Armenia –

Tigran Abrahamyan, a lawmaker from the opposition Pativ Unem bloc, on Tuesday reiterated the need for major reforms in the Armenian army as the summer conscription kicked off in the county.

In a public post on Facebook, he wished all draftees safe service.

“Sweeping changes are needed in the army, which experts have been talking about for a long time,” the MP wrote.

Abrahamyan outlined four key factors for the military which “have nothing to do with funds, Azerbaijani threats or technical problems”.

“These factors include the spirit, will, idea and discipline. Without them, the army will not be able to solve problems regardless of the armaments, equipment or means acquired,” he stated.