Author: Elizabeth Jabejian

Asbarez: Azerbaijanis Kidnap Armenian Villager; Investigation Underway

Elizabeth Jabejian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

The Khachik village in Armenia's Vayots Dzor Province


The Investigative Committee of Armenia said on Thursday that it has launched a probe surrounding the disappearance of a resident of Khachik village in Armenia’s Vayots Dzor Province.

According to the villager’s brother the subject left his house on June 3 and did not return.

“As a result of operational measures it became known that on June 3, at about 09 a.m. (local time), a resident of Khachik village, A.Kh., alone went to an area bordering Azerbaijan known as ‘Jaghatsi Dzor’ to pick plants. There three unknown people of Azerbaijani nationality approached him and transported him to Nakhichevan against his will. On June 12 A.Kh. was returned to the area called ‘Jaghatsi Dzor,’ from where he returned to the village of Khachik,” the investigative committee told Armenpress on Thursday, adding that probe into the circumstances of this act continues.

Last week, Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported that Azerbaijani forces opened fire from various directions and using heavy artillery at Armenian military positions located in the western part of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

Police, Rescue Service and Migration Service to be merged into upcoming Ministry of Internal Affairs

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 12:59,

YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS. Three structures – the Police, the Rescue Service and the Migration Service, will be merged into a single body, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia, Deputy Justice Minister Arpine Sargsyan said during the parliamentary hearings on the creation of the Ministry of Interior.

“From the very start the reforms were directed for revising the Police, however, the chain of these reforms also includes the Migration Service and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. We should have one-point management in case of emergency situations, such as disasters, and other situations, which will allow to have a single policy”, she said.

She said that the Rescue Service and the Police could more effectively reach the solution of the problem through the use of each other’s resources. According to her, merging these three structures into the new ministry will allow to use each other’s resources and have a common approach to various issues.

“We will have three major services in the Ministry of Interior – the Police, the Rescue Service and the Migration Service”, she said.

There will also be structural changes and revisions of functions. Respective policies should be developed for these functions. “Firstly, maintaining public order, preventing and discovering crimes. The second key function is the disaster risk management, and the third one is the management of state reserves. Humanitarian issues will also be included in the functional base of the interior ministry. The last important function, which, in fact, will suppose serious structural changes, are those relating to migration and citizenship”, the deputy minister said.

In order to make the management of migration flows more effective, the new ministry will have a Migration and Citizenship Service that will unite the Passport and Visa Department and the Migration Service.

The Police Chief and the Head of the Rescue Service will combine the posts of deputy ministers.

Mkhitaryan to wear No. 22 at Inter

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 14:04,

YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS. Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan will wear number 22 at Inter, the club said.

“After his arrival was made official and his first few days at the Suning Training Centre, Henrikh Mkhitaryan has chosen his shirt number for next season. The Armenian midfielder will wear the number 22”, Inter said.

Mkhitaryan joined Inter on July 2 after leaving AS Roma.

Court agrees to hold public hearing in Avetik Chalabyan’s case

Elizabeth Jabejian
Panorama
Armenia – July 9 2022

A court in Yerevan has decided to hold a public hearing in political activist Avetik Chalabyan’s case, his lawyer Varazdat Harutyunyan said.

“The court, presided over by judge Arusyak Aleksanyan, has granted a defense motion to make the hearing on the extension of Avetik Chalabyan’s arrest open to the public,” he wrote on Facebook on Saturday.

Chalabyan was arrested on May 12 for allegedly trying to pay students of the Armenian National Agrarian University to participate in anti-government protests in Yerevan. He has denied the charges as politically motivated.

Those displaced from Artsakh due to 44-day war staging protest outside UN Armenia office

Elizabeth Jabejian
NEWS.am
Armenia – July 8 2022
13:13, 08.07.2022

Those displaced from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) as a result of the 44-day war in the fall of 2020 are protesting outside the UN office in Armenia.

They told reporters at the scene that their main demand is still to get refugee status.

Artur Stepanyan, a displaced resident of Artsakh’s Hadrut, told reporters that if they are granted refugee status, they will be able to return to their homes in the event of the deoccupation of Shushi and Hadrut by Azerbaijan.

"According to point 6 of the [trilateral] statement of November 9, [2020,] refugees and displaced persons [shall] return to their places of residence," Stepanyan reminded.

He noted that the government of Armenia is not taking any steps toward granting them any status, as well as regarding other issues.

Stepanyan emphasized that now a new draft is being working on according to which that they will be given the status of "forcibly displaced person."

"Everyone evades the matter of our status. The UN says: 'It's a political matter, your authorities should resolve that matter,'" Artur Stepanyan added.

Armenia army General Staff chief to also be first deputy defense minister from now on

Elizabeth Jabejian
NEWS.am
Armenia – July 7 2022
15:01, 07.07.2022

At Thursday’s special session of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, the MPs passed—in the second and final reading—the package of amendments to the Law on Defense as well as to some other related laws.

According to these amendments, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia will henceforth have the status of the First Deputy Minister of Defense as well.

These law amendments were adopted unanimously—with 58 votes in favor.

The parliamentary opposition neither attended the respective NA special session nor the voting on this matter.

As per these amendments, although the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces shall become the First Deputy Minister of Defense as well, in the absence of the Minister of Defense, he will not perform the duties of the Minister.

Accountability will extend to defense procurement. The Ministry of Defense will take over from the General Staff of the Armed Forces the matters of material support, so that the leadership of the Armenian army is freed from economic matters and focuses on defense tasks.

Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan deputy prime ministerial task force manages to bring positions closer on unblocking–Russia MFA

Elizabeth Jabejian

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 17:35, 6 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 6, ARMENPRESS. The Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan deputy prime ministerial working group dealing with the unblocking of all economic and transportation communications in the region has managed to bring their positions closer around the resumption of transportation communications, Alexey Zaitsev, the deputy director of the information and press department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said.

He said that the trilateral working group led by the deputy PMs continues its activities.

“Certain progress has been achieved during the 10th meeting of the trilateral working group in Moscow on June 3, as well as during the contacts held on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. The sides managed to bring their positions closer over various aspects of restoration of transportation communications. As you know, the trilateral working group is discussing the issue of opening the railway and road communications in the region, for the benefit of Armenia, Azerbaijan and their neighbors”, Alexey Zaitsev said.

He added that if a concrete agreement is reached, the co-chairs will inform the media.

Armenia’s first “Museum of Illusions” to open in Gyumri

Elizabeth Jabejian
Public Radio of Armenia
June 29 2022
June 29, 2022, 12:53

 

Armenia’s first “Museum of Illusions” will the second largest city of Gyumri on July 6.

The museum will showcase about 50 exhibits based on physics, mathematics and psychology. Visitors will have the opportunity to see “magical” rooms which could seem ordinary at first sight.

“The idea of creating a museum has existed for a long time; we have studied similar museums in different countries for years. We think it will be interesting for both locals and tourists,” says museum co-founder Grisha Amirkhanyan.

The museum was supported by the EU Business Initiative Innovative Tourism and Technology Development for Armenia, co-funded by the European Union and the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany and implemented by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).


Armenia does not see much progress in talks with Turkey

Elizabeth Jabejian
Public Radio of Armenia
Armenia – June 30 2022
June 30, 2022, 14:00

 1 minute read

Armenia does not see much progress in the negotiation process with Ankara, Armenia’s Special Representative for normalization talks with Turkey Ruben Rubinyan told reporters at the National Assembly today.

“Since the beginning of the process, Armenia has been very constructive, Armenia has the political will, and the success of this process depends on the political will of Turkey. As you can see, up to this point there has not been much progress” he said.

Rubinyan said there is no specific document on the table and reiterated that there is no issue of “re-delimitation” of borders on the agenda.

The Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly noted that the proposal of the Turkish side to hold a meeting in Yerevan implies that “the Turkish colleagues consider the process to be two-sided.”

“But in this context, the statements of some Turkish officials that they coordinate or coordinate the process with Azerbaijan are a bit strange. But I repeat that the main thing in the process is political will, if there is will, the rest is easy to solve,” Rubinyan stated.

He added that the lack of progress so far does not mean there cannot be any in the future.

The Special Representatives will hold their fourth meeting in Vienna on July 1.

Fallen servicemen’s 10 parents enter Armenia Prosecutor General’s Office building

Elizabeth Jabejian
NEWS.am
Armenia –
Fallen servicemen’s 10 parents enter Armenia Prosecutor General's Office building
13:15, 30.06.2022

Ten of the fallen servicemen’s parents, who are protesting in front of the building of the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia, have entered the building for the expected meeting with Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan.

Earlier, the Prosecutor General's Office proposed that only two of them enter the building for this talk, but the parents rejected this proposal, and demanded the presence of at least eight parents.

Later, the Prosecutor General's Office stated that ten parents could enter the building—but without the presence of the media and smartphones.

According to the Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter at the scene, these parents have entered the building of the Prosecutor General's Office without smartphones, but demanded the presence of the media.

As reported earlier, a group of relatives of the fallen servicemen are staging a protest in front of the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia. They want to meet with Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan.

Their demand is that the criminal case filed with the Investigative Committee—and under the Criminal Code article on "abuse of official power, which has caused serious consequences"—be transferred to the National Security Service.

Also, they demand that this criminal case be investigated under the Criminal Code article on "apparent high treason," and that PM Nikol Pashinyan be summoned for questioning under this article.