Author: Boris Nahapetian

Armenia assumes two-year coordination of the BSEC Working Group on Energy

Boris Nahapetian

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 21:38,

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. During the online meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) member states Armenia assumed two-year coordination of the BSEC Working Group on Energy, ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia.

The delegation led by head of the Department of Multilateral Policy and Development Cooperation Arman Khachatryan represented the Armenian side during the online meeting.

In his speech Arman Khachatryan referred to the aggression of Azerbaijan against Artsakh with the direct involvement of Turkey and foreign terrorist’s under the conditions of global pandemic and the consequences of the aggression. He presented to the participants of the meeting the overt violations of the trilateral November 9 statement by Azerbaijan, adding that the aggressive and provocative behavior of Azerbaijan continues to jeopardize regional peace and stability. He emphasized that Azerbaijan continues to create obstacles for the international efforts aimed at the elimination of the humanitarian consequences of the war.

The Armenian side also emphasized the inadmissibility of unilateral coercive measures and blockade, which hampers the regional economic cooperation and facilitation of trade, which are the main goals of the BSEC.

Georgia assumed the chairmanship of the BSEC.



Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem congratulates Pashinyan on election win

Boris Nahapetian

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 13:13, 23 June, 2021

YEREVAN, JUNE 23, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Archbishop Nourhan Manougian has sent a congratulatory letter to Armenia’s caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the occasion of his Civil Contract party’s victory in the early parliamentary elections.

“We will pray that you contribute to the establishment of solidarity in the homeland and implement the expectations of our people, raising Armenia’s and Artsakh’s security, reforming the Armenian Army and contributing to the restoration of its combat preparedness, developing the economy and improving the social conditions of our homeland”, Archbishop Nourhan Manougian said in his letter, stating that he is looking forward to meeting with Pashinyan in the Holy Land.

Armenia held snap parliamentary elections on June 20.

21 political parties and 4 blocs were running for parliament.

Accordingly, the Civil Contract party led by caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received 53.92% of the votes, the “Armenia” bloc led by 2nd President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan – 21.04%, “I Have the Honor” bloc – 5.23%, CEC Chairman Tigran Mukuchyan said at the Committee’s extraordinary session.

1 million 282 thousand 411 citizens or 49.4% of the voters cast their ballot in the early elections.

4682 ballots were declared invalid.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Presidential election voting opens in Iran

Boris Nahapetian

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 09:47,

YEREVAN, JUNE 18, ARMENPRESS. Iranians began heading to polling stations to cast their ballots in the national presidential elections at 7 a.m. local time. The country has set up around 66,800 voting stations across the nation, reports TASS.

Iranians can also vote in 133 countries around the world where 234 more stations operate. Overall, 52,310,000 Iranians are eligible to cast their votes.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has cast his ballot in the national presidential elections and urged Iranians to head to voting stations, Press TV reported on Friday.

“We invite the population to go and vote because it is in the country’s best interests”, he said.

On Wednesday, several candidates decided to stand down, leaving four people in the running to lead the nation: Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council Mohsen Rezaee, Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, Deputy Parliament Speaker Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi and former Governor of the Central Bank Abdolnaser Hemmati.

Hassan Rouhani, incumbent President of Iran, is ineligible to take part in the elections as he served two terms in the office in a row.

There are serious doubts about acting PM’s deal with Azerbaijan, says Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan

Boris Nahapetian
News.am, Armenia
There are serious doubts about acting PM's deal with Azerbaijan, says Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan
18:05, 15.06.2021

Punishing with a “hammer” is savagery; there are courts and justice for that. Robert Kocharyan—the second President, leader of the "Armenia" bloc which will run in Sunday’s snap parliamentary elections, and its candidate for prime minister—stated this at their campaign meeting with the residents of Avshar village in Ararat Province.

To note, for two days now, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been "armed" with a hammer which he waves around at their election rallies, threatening to "establish order" with it.

Responding to the call to reinstate the death penalty in Armenia, the second President stressed that Armenia has lifted the death penalty and he is a sincere supporter of the abolition of capital punishment. "We are going toward making peace. But this does not mean that the guilty will not be punished; they must be punished. Justice is needed; but not to punish with a 'hammer;' there is a judge and justice for that. Punishing with a hammer is the method of savage tribes; I have only seen such a thing in old movies. If you took the hammer, take the axe, too; this is the method of savage tribes. I do not even know how to describe it.

The main ‘case’ of our country has worse habits than in the Middle Ages. He should be removed from power and then demanded to explain how Shushi and Hadrut [towns of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] came under enemy [Azerbaijan] control [after the Artsakh war last fall]. What about 5 billion [US dollars]? This raises serious, well-founded doubts about a deal with Azerbaijan. Maybe they did not transfer to him in full, and now he is talking about the [ARF] Dashnaktsutyun [Party] flag? To say such a thing on the day of the Armenian flag … I cannot explain it any other way," Kocharyan stated.

Expert voices need of ensuring new security system in Armenia’s Syunik

Boris Nahapetian
Aysor, Armenia

There is an issue of forming new security system in Syunik, representative of “I Have Honor” bloc, head of Henaket think tank Tigran Abrahamyan wrote on Facebook today.

He noted that it is being spoken about ensuring security of Stepanakert-Goris road sector but the security issue of Goris-Kapan-Tchakaten-Shikahogh-Meghri road sector is not less important.

He stressed that as a result of “oral mutual understanding” one sector of the road is under Azerbaijan’s control, and in one big sector Azerbaijan has got an opportunity to at any time ensure control.

“There is an issue of forming new security system in Syunik. The current approaches solve temporary, situational issues and do not give serious security guarantees,” Abrahamyan wrote.

Pashinyan convinced on June 20 Armenian citizens will re-establish their power

Boris Nahapetian

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 12:20, 7 June, 2021

YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The most important motivation of the Civil Contract party’s participation to the June 20 snap parliamentary elections is that the people do not lose their sense of being the owner of the country, Caretaker Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, who is leading the Civil Contract party’s electoral list, said during the meeting with the residents of Parakar community on the sidelines of the pre-election campaign.

“We even will not say “people, vote in favor of us”, we will say “people, vote in favor of you””, Pashinyan said.

He said he has revealed two positions during the campaign – that there are political forces which announce that they are coming to take power, and their party, which announces that people will decide.

“I want you to fix the difference because some people say that on June 20 and after that they “will win”, but we say that “we will bear your punishment after June 20”. I state once again, the political feature is the following: we say – “you decide, and we do””, Pashinyan stated, adding: “If you decide that we should continue leading the country, we will do that. If you decide that we should not lead the country, we will do that.

The electoral campaign for the snap parliamentary elections officially launched in Armenia on June 7.

The campaign will last until June 18.

The snap parliamentary elections will take place on June 20, but the electronic voting will kick off on June 11 until June 13.

26 political forces – 22 parties and 4 blocs, are participating in the elections.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Artsakh’s Foreign Minister meets with Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin II

Boris Nahapetian
Public Radio of Armenia
June 5 2021
 

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh David Babayan met in Stepanakert with Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin II.

Issues related to the church-society and homeland-Diaspora relations, future of Artsakh, regional trends and possible developments were discussed during the meeting.

The sides stressed the crucial role of Artsakh in the life of all Armenians.

The Foreign Minister expressed his gratitude to the Catholicos of All Armenians for  his zealous support to Artsakh and relentless efforts aimed at presenting Artsakh as a Pan-Armenian value.

State budget revenues in first five months of 2021 higher than in 2019, 2020

Boris Nahapetian

 12:17, 3 June, 2021

YEREVAN, JUNE 3, ARMENPRESS. In the first five months of 2021 the tax revenues collected in Armenia comprised 618.4 billion drams, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Edward Hovhannisyan said during today’s Cabinet meeting.

“The money returned to the taxpayers and individuals comprised 68.6 billion drams. Such figures have a positive difference both compared to the data of 2020 and 2019. In particular, the tax revenues collected in this first five months are more by 47.2 billion drams from the figure of 2019 and by 34.8 billion drams from that of 2020”, he said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted that nearly 40% growth in tax revenues has been registered with the results of 2019. “This means that now we have 8.3% growth compared to 2019. I want to note that all this is taking place on the background of return of money”, he said.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Dejavu: Armenia ruling party distributes money for votes at Yerevan district election office

Boris Nahapetian
News.am, Armenia
June 3 2021
18:11, 03.06.2021

The ruling Civil Contract (CC) Party of Armenia distributes money for votes at its election office at Avan district of Yerevan, Dejavu writes on its Telegram channel.

"Our source told us that yesterday some citizens visited the CC Avan district [election] office and received money to secure votes for the CC on June 20 [the day of snap parliamentary elections]. Those people were offered 1,000,000 drams for 50 votes, but in some cases others, they ‘agreed’ for 2,000,000 drams. There was even a man who, after a long persuasion only, agreed to bring a copy of only 50 passports for 3,000,000 drams, ‘and let's finish with that,’ they told the representative of the office.

Our source also said that it is very difficult to engage ‘shufflers;’ people say that it has become terribly difficult to secure votes even with money," Dejavu wrote on Telegram.