Tuesday,
Armenia ‘Respects’ Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic Aspirations
Georgia -- Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia (R) and his Armenian
counterpart Nikol Pashinian meet in Tbilisi, March 3, 2020.
Armenia respects Georgia’s desire to join NATO and the European Union and
believes that it must not hamper closer ties between the two neighboring
nations, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said during an official visit to Tbilisi
on Tuesday.
“We respect Georgia’s aspirations to integrate into the Euro-Atlantic area,”
Pashinian told his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Gakharia at the start of their
talks.
“It has happened so that our countries have different ideas about security
systems, but I believe we have a common idea about security,” he went on.
“Armenia cannot be a security threat to Georgia, and Georgia cannot be a
security threat to Armenia.”
Armenia is a member of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) and Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Pashinian has repeatedly pledged to
keep his country anchored to Russia politically, militarily and economically
since he swept to power in 2018.
Echoing statements by former Armenian leaders, Pashinian insisted in Tbilisi
that Armenia’s membership in the EEU and Georgia’s Association Agreement with
the EU create “new opportunities” for expanding bilateral trade.
Georgian-Armenian relations can also be cemented by the two countries’
“commitment to democratic values,” he said.
Gakharia similarly stressed the importance of “democratic development” in the
region when he spoke after the talks.
“Our countries have a millennia-old history of friendly relations and we must
work hard every day to make our cooperation even more productive,” the Georgian
prime minister told a joint news briefing. He too downplayed Tbilisi’s and
Yerevan’s “different foreign policy directions.”
“There is no doubt that Armenian-Georgian partnership is one of the most
important guarantees of stability in our region,” Pashinian said for his part.
Neither leader announced specific agreements reached as a result of their
negotiations. According to an Armenian government statement, they discussed ways
of expanding bilateral trade as well as “promising projects on transport, energy
and other areas.”
Yerevan Rules Out Turkish Role In Karabakh Settlement
Azerbaijan -- Azeri President Ilham Aliyev receives prayer beads from his
Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in Baku, February 25, 2020
Armenia again ruled out Turkey’s involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiating
process on Tuesday after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with
international mediators trying to broker an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal.
The U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group held the
rare meeting with Turkey’s top diplomat in Ankara on Monday.
According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Cavusoglu told them that they should
do more to resolve the Karabakh conflict. He said the conflict’s resolution
“should be in full respect of the sovereignty, the territorial integrity and the
internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan,” reported the ministry.
Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian responded scathingly to Cavusoglu
later on Monday, tweeting a quote from the Gospel of Luke: “Physician, heal
thyself!”
“With its unfriendly policy towards Armenia and the Armenian people, which in
the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict also takes the form of unilateral
military support for Azerbaijan, Turkey cannot play any role in the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process,” the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Anna
Naghdalian, said the following day.
Successive Turkish governments have lent full and unconditional support to
Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict. They have also made the normalization of
Turkish-Armenian relations conditional on a Karabakh settlement acceptable to
Baku. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed this policy when he
visited Baku late last month.
No New Coronavirus Cases Reported In Armenia Yet
• Susan Badalian
Armenia -- Newly arrived pasengers from Italy at Zvartnots airport, Yerevan,
March 3, 2020.
An Armenian man who returned from Iran late last week remains the sole person
diagnosed with coronavirus in Armenia so far, Health Minister Arsen Torosian
said on Tuesday.
Torosian also said that the 29-year-old man hospitalized at the weekend does not
have a fever and is not displaying other disease symptoms.
The 31 other individuals, who are kept in quarantine at a disused luxury hotel
in the resort town of Tsaghkadzor, are also “feeling well,” he told RFE/RL’s
Armenian service.
“They will stay in Tsaghkadzor for 12 more days,” he said. “They will undergo
two coronavirus tests. If they test negative we will send them home.”
The quarantined individuals were in physical contact with the infected man,
according to health authorities. They include an ambulance crew that transported
him to a Yerevan hospital and some passengers of a plane that evacuated Armenian
nationals from Iran last Friday.
In Torosian’s words, a total of 134 people in Armenia have tested negative for
the virus in recent days.
The minister reported later in the day that he telephoned his Iranian
counterpart Saeed Namaki to discuss the continuing spread of the virus in Iran,
which infected 1,500 people and killed at least 66 of them as of Monday. He said
Namaki assured him that Iranian authorities have “sufficient medical capacities”
to cope with the grave outbreak.
Iran -- A woman has her temperature checked and her hands disinfected as she
enters the Palladium Shopping Center in Tehran, March 3, 2020
The two ministers spoke as the Armenian government began enforcing its ban on
virtually all types of cargo traffic through the Armenian-Iranian border. The
government closed the border for individual travellers and suspended
Yerevan-Tehran flights last week.
On Monday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian urged Armenians to avoid nonessential
travel to another coronavirus-hit country, Italy. But he made clear that the
government has no plans yet to halt flights from Yerevan to Milan and Rome.
The Irish budget airline Ryanair carried out the latest Milan-Yerevan flight on
Tuesday, bringing 69 people to Armenia. All of them were briefly inspected at
Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airport by medics deployed by the Armenian
Ministry of Health.
One of those passengers was taken to hospital after complaining of respiratory
problems experienced by him on Monday. A sanitary inspector at Zvartnots, Hayk
Kirakosian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that the passenger will be examined
“in laboratory conditions.”
Most of the other passengers of the Milan-Yerevan flight wore medical masks as
they walked out of the airport. “There are more masked people here than there
[in Italy,]” said one of them. “We just put them on to make sure we don’t bring
the virus here. But we have fully been checked.”
Former Defense Chief Risks Fresh Charges
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia -- Former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian speaks to reporters, Yerevan,
March 3, 2020.
Former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian could be indicted in an ongoing criminal
investigation into a 2010 privatization deal which Armenian law-enforcement
autorities say cost the state millions of dollars in losses.
DzoraHEK, a medium-sized hydroelectric plant located in Armenia’s northen Lori
province, was sold by former President Serzh Sarkisian’s government to a private
company for 3.6 billion drams ($7.5 million).
Citing a police inquiry, Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General claimed in
May last year that the sell-off price was set well below DzoraHEK’s market value
estimated by a government agency at around 8 billion drams ($16.8 million). It
said it has assigned another law-enforcement body, the Special Investigative
Service (SIS), to investigate the “substantial damage” caused to on the state.
The SIS announced late on Monday that it now considers Ohanian a suspect in the
case because the hydroelectric plant belonged to the Armenian Defense Ministry
prior to its privatization. It said that the deal was proposed by the ministry.
Ohanian, who served as defense minister from 2008-2016, categorically denied
this on Tuesday. He insisted that it was the now defunct Energy Ministry that
negotiated with the buyer and proposed the terms of the deal to the government.
“The privatization process was mainly carried out by the Energy Ministry,”
Ohanian told reporters.
The plant was handed over to the Defense Ministry in 2001 one year after Serzh
Sarkisian was appointed as defense minister. He held that post until 2007.
Some media outlets suggested in 2010 that the plant’s new owner, an
offshore-registered firm called Dzoraget Hydro, is controlled by Miakel
Minasian, Sarkisian’s son-in-law. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian appeared to
link Minasian to the the Soviet-era facility in September. Minasian has not yet
commented on that.
In 2016, the plant was sold to another company, Energo Invest Holding, which is
reportedly owned by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetian.
Ohanian is already standing trial, along with former President Robert Kocharian
and two other former officials, on coup charges stemming from the 2008
post-election violence in Yerevan. All four defendants deny the accusations.
Only Kocharian is held in detention.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Author: Bedik Zaminian
CoE Committee of Ministers to examine the implementation of two ECHR judgments concerning Armenia
Panorama, Armenia
March 3 2020
The representatives of the 47 member States of the Council of Europe will meet between 3 to 5 March 2020 to examine the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, in accordance with the supervisory role of the Committee of Ministers under Article 46 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
As the official website of the organization said in a released statement, two of the cases proposed for detailed examination concern Armenia. The cases in question are Chiragov and others v. Armenia and Virabyan vs. Armenia.
Chiragov and others v. Armenia case is related to the rights to property to Azeri nationals in Nagorno Karabakh. The Grand Chamber issued judgment in 2015 and ruled that Armenia had violated ECHR articles on protection of property and right to respect for private and family life. The judgement came on same day as for the case Sargsyan v. Azerbaijan.
Minas Sargsyan, from the village of Gulistan in Shahumyan region, was forced to flee his home with his family after the Azerbaijani bombardment. The Sargsyan family demanded compensation for their property losses. The court unanimously held that in Sargsyan case Azerbaijan had to pay the applicant 5,000 euros in respect of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and 30,000 euros in respect of costs and expenses.
Department of Passports and Visas of Armenia Police issues statement
News.am, Armenia
March 1 2020
21:36, 01.03.2020
Another airplane carrying Armenian citizens from Iran arrives in Yerevan
21:15,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. The airplane with 82 Armenian citizens onboard has landed at Yerevan’s “Zvartnots” airport. ARMENPRESS reports Health Minister of Armenia Arsen Torosyan informed that this is the last airplane carrying Armenians from Iran for now.
Torosyan noted that like the previous time, a healthcare specialist accompanied them and followed their health condition from Tehran. “None of the passengers had fever or symptoms of acute respiratory infection. All of them will under domestic supervision”, the Minister said.
Up till now 108 coronavirus tests have been done in Armenia, all of them with negative results.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
The int’l community should condemn and give a clear and unequivocal assessment to the genocidal actions committed by the Azerbaijani authorities
Aravot, Armenia
Feb 27 2020
The international community should condemn and give a clear and unequivocal assessment to the genocidal actions committed by the Azerbaijani authorities against the peaceful Armenian population
Comment by the Information and Public Relations Department of the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Artsakh on the 32-nd Anniversary of the Massacre of Armenians in Sumgait
32 years ago, on February 27-29, 1988, the authorities of the Azerbaijani SSR perpetrated the massacre and forced deportation of the Armenian population in the city of Sumgait, accompanied by atrocities committed with unprecedented cruelty. The three-day mass beatings, killings and violent acts were the response of the authorities of Baku to the peaceful and legitimate demands of the Armenians of Artsakh (Karabakh) to realize their inalienable right to self-determination.
There is ample evidence that the massacres of Armenians in Sumgait were thoroughly prepared and planned by the Azerbaijani authorities. Speaking at the rallies held on the eve of the massacres, high-ranking representatives of the city authorities called on the crowd to punish the Armenians and demanded “to kill and to deport them from Sumgait and from entire Azerbaijan”. Almost every speech ended with the chanting of “Death to Armenians!”. Amid the obvious inaction of the authorities and law enforcement bodies, as well as guided by the latters, hundreds of Azerbaijanis in Sumgait, inspired by the calls for hatred and violence against Armenians, started unimpeded attacks on the apartments of the Armenians living in Sumgait, having the lists of addresses at their disposal.
The impunity of the real organizers and perpetrators of the crimes against humanity committed in Sumgait created a fertile ground for the ethnic cleansing of Armenians throughout the Azerbaijani SSR in the subsequent years – in Kirovabad, Baku and a number of other Armenian-populated cities. Thousands of Armenians became victims of this policy, and hundreds of thousands became refugees.
Currently, the Azerbaijani authorities, unfortunately, continue their policy of inciting hatred and xenophobia against the Armenians, heroizing and glorifying the Azerbaijani officer who brutally killed an Armenian officer in Hungary in 2004. Another manifestation of such a policy became the rewarding of the Azerbaijani officer by the President of Azerbaijan for beheading a serviceman of the Artsakh Defense Army during the April war of 2016 unleashed against the Republic of Artsakh, as well as the gross violations of the norms of humanitarian law and the war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces.
We bow to the memory of the innocent victims of the Sumgait crime. The international community should condemn and give a clear and unequivocal assessment to the genocidal actions committed by the Azerbaijani authorities against the peaceful Armenian population, which will not only prevent the repetition of such atrocities in the future, but will also help to heal the situation in Azerbaijan.
Artsakh MFA Press Service
CIVILNET. Two of Armenia’s Former Presidents Face Criminal Charges, as Trial Against Serzh Sargsyan Begins
CIVILNET.AM
17:12
By Mark Dovich
February 25 marked the first day of the trial against Armenia’s former President Serzh Sargsyan, who served as president from 2008 to 2018. Prior to the beginning of his trial, Sargsyan addressed a crowd of supporters who had gathered outside the courthouse, urging them to “defend justice” and “never forget about the security of Armenia” and claiming that “Nagorno-Karabakh will never be a part of Azerbaijan”.
Sargsyan stands accused of embezzling nearly one million U.S. dollars of state funds during the awarding of a public tender in 2013 that provided subsidized diesel fuel to low-income farmers in Armenia’s rural areas. If convicted, Sargsyan faces up to eight years in prison.
Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS) claims that Sargsyan interfered in the awarding of the tender so as to ensure that a company with which he had personal ties would win. The SIS has stated that the government could have purchased the fuel from another supplier at a significantly lower cost.
Several senior members of the Ministry of Agriculture under Sargsyan’s administration, namely Sergo Karapetyan, Samvel Galstyan, and Gevorg Harutyunyan, as well as the owner of the company that was awarded the tender, Barsegh Beglaryan, face embezzlement charges in the case as well. Beglaryan is also the owner of one of Armenia’s largest petroleum importing companies.
At present, there are ongoing criminal cases against two former presidents in Armenia. Aside from the case against Sargsyan, charges have also been leveled against former President Robert Kocharyan, who served as president from 1998 to 2008. Kocharyan stands accused of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order during the events of March 1, 2008. He is currently in detention.
On that day, following a disputed presidential election, police violently dispersed protesters in Yerevan, resulting in the deaths of nearly a dozen people. Kocharyan then declared a state of emergency, imposed a citywide curfew, and brought army units into the capital. Current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was himself one of the organizers of the protests and was briefly jailed afterward as a result.
In a separate development today, the judiciary announced that a decision on Kocharyan’s pending legal appeal will be made public on March 3. Kocharyan’s lawyers previously appealed to terminate his case on the grounds that the article of the Criminal Code under which he is being charged was adopted in 2009 and therefore does not apply retroactively to events prior to its adoption.
Pashinyan came to power following the 2018 Velvet Revolution, a series of mass protests that sprung up in response to Sargsyan’s attempt to retain power beyond his second consecutive term as president. Pashinyan also made numerous pledges to root out Armenia’s endemic corruption during the protests. Indeed, aside from Presidents Sargsyan and Kocharyan, legal action has been initiated against several other prominent figures from the prerevolutionary administrations, including Constitutional Court President Hrayr Tovmasyan, former National Assembly Speaker Ara Babloyan, and former Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Gagik Khachatryan.
https://www.civilnet.am/news/2020/02/25/Two-of-Armenia%E2%80%99s-Former-Presidents-Face-Criminal-Charges-as-Trial-Against-Serzh-Sargsyan-Begins/377071
—
Lilit Abovyan
Researcher
The Civilitas Foundation
One Northern Avenue, Suite 30
+37410.500119; +37494.800754
The Civilitas Foundation
One Northern Avenue, Suite 30
+37410.500119; +37494.800754
Georgia to create reserve on border with Armenia
News.am, Armenia
Feb 19 2020
22:39, 19.02.2020
Sports: Five-strong women’s team to represent Armenia in European C’ship
MediaMax, Armenia
Feb 18 2020
Five-strong women’s team to represent Armenia in European C’ship
Armenia women’s weightlifting team kicks off a training camp in Tsaghkadzor tomorrow.
Head coach of the team Artashes Nersisyan has told Mediamax Sport that the weightlifters will be getting ready for the European Championship in Tsaghkadzor until March 8.
Afterwards, the team will train in Abovyan or Yerevan.
In the European Championship, due to take place on April 2-12, Armenia will be represented by in the women’s competition by 5 athletes: Izabella Yaylyan (59kg), Milena Khachatryan (71kg), Liana Gyurjyan (81kg), Tatev Hakobyan (87kg) and Arpine Dalalyan (+87kg).
PM Pashinyan to participate in “Yes” campaign of Constitutional changes
19:38,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan will participate in the campaign of the referendum on Constitutional changes, ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan told the reporters coming out of the office of the “Civil Contract” Party.
The referendum will take place on April 5.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
Armenpress: Netherlands completes internal procedures for ratification of Armenia-EU CEPA
Netherlands completes internal procedures for ratification of Armenia-EU CEPA
13:35,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. On February 12, 2020, the Netherlands notified the General Secretariat of the European Council and the Council of the EU about the completion of its internal procedures necessary for the ratification of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan said on Facebook.
Armenia and the European Union signed the CEPA in Brussels on November 24, 2017.
So far, 21 countries have ratified the Agreement: Armenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, UK, Sweden, Slovenia and the Netherlands.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan