Author: Garik Boshkezenian

Deputy FM describes Washington talks as ‘productive’ phase

Garik Boshkezenian

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 12:28,

YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Paruyr Hovhannisyan has said that the Armenian-Azerbaijani foreign ministerial talks were a “productive” phase in terms of approximating the stances around a possible peace treaty.

Speaking at a press briefing on May 12, Hovhannisyan told ARMENPRESS that there are a number of issues that have yet to be discussed during the upcoming May 14 Brussels summit.

PM Nikol Pashinyan said on May 11 that Azerbaijan sought to nullify the progress in the Washington talks with its latest aggression.

Asked what progress the prime minister was referring to, Hovhannisyan said the progress pertains to the sides having a better understanding on each other’s stances.

“This was done. The American side did everything possible to create a positive atmosphere. It was truly a productive phase for bringing closer the positions around a possible peace treaty. Of course, there are a number of highly important issues that have yet to be discussed, and that’s why the highest-level meeting is being organized in Brussels, which will be followed by the foreign ministerial meeting in Moscow, and there will be other meetings as well,” Hovhannisyan said.

Speaking about the Azeri military attack on Armenian positions in Sotk on May 11, Hovhannisyan said that Azerbaijan has been behaving in this manner ever since the 1990s.

“I’ve been serving at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1995, and I can’t recall a single phase of negotiations without such provocations taking place either before or after the meetings,” he said.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 05/09/2023

Garik Boshkezenian 
                                        Tuesday, May 9, 2023


Armenia-Azerbaijan Summit In Brussels Confirmed

        • Artak Khulian

Moldova - European Council President Charles Michel speaks during a news 
conference in Chisinau, March 28, 2023.


The European Union confirmed late on Monday that its top official, Charles 
Michel, will host on Sunday fresh talks between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

“The leaders have agreed to convene again on 14 May 2023 in a Brussels 
trilateral meeting,” read a statement released by Michel’s office. “Their 
discussions will also be flanked by a meeting together with President Emmanuel 
Macron of France and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, in the margins of the 
upcoming European Political Community summit in [Moldova’s capital] Chisinau on 
1 June 2023.”

“The leaders have also agreed to continue to meet trilaterally in Brussels as 
frequently as necessary to address ongoing developments on the ground and 
standing agenda items of the Brussels meetings,” added the statement.

It said nothing about the precise agenda of the upcoming summit which will 
follow marathon talks held by the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers 
outside Washington last week. The U.S.-mediated talks focused on an 
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.

The U.S. State Department insisted on Monday that the two ministers “made 
significant progress in addressing difficult issues.”

“And we believe that with additional goodwill and flexibility and compromise an 
agreement is within reach,” a department spokesman said, echoing U.S. Secretary 
of State Antony Blinken’s statements.

The secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen Grigorian, told reporters on 
Tuesday that the conflicting sides still disagree on key terms of the would-be 
treaty. He said those relate to Azerbaijani recognition of Armenia’s existing 
borders, an internationally supervised dialogue between Baku and Karabakh’s 
leadership as well as “international guarantees” for the sides’ compliance with 
their peace accord.

Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisian announced, meanwhile, that 
the Brussels summit will be followed by Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks in 
Moscow. He did not specify whether they will involve Aliyev and Pashinian or 
their foreign ministers.

Russia has been very critical of the U.S. and EU peace efforts, saying that the 
Western powers are trying to use the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to drive Moscow 
out of the South Caucasus. It maintains that Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements 
brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin are the only viable blueprint for 
settling the conflict.




Pashinian Attends Victory Day Parade In Moscow


Russia - Russian service members take part in a military parade on Victory Day, 
which marks the 78th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War 
Two, in Red Square in Moscow, May 9, 2023.


Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian joined on Tuesday the presidents of Russia and 
six other former Soviet states in attending a military parade in Moscow that 
marked the 78th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany.

They laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin walls 
following the annual parade which was scaled back this time around, reflecting 
Russia’s continuing war on Ukraine.

Parades in several other Russian cities were canceled and the traditional 
"Immortal Regiment" processions, where people carry portraits of relatives who 
fought against the Nazis, also were scrapped.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly likened the war in Ukraine to 
the challenge Moscow faced when Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.

Russia - The leaders of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, 
Tajikistan and Turkmenistan take part in a flower-laying ceremony at the Tomb of 
the Unknown Soldier after the Victory Day Parade in Moscow, May 9, 2023.

Addressing thousands of soldiers and spectators at the start of the parade in 
Red Square, Putin accused "Western globalist elites" of seeking to carve up 
Russia and “sowing hatred, Russophobia, aggressive nationalism.”

The anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe has remained a public 
holiday, officially called Victory and Peace Day, in Armenia since the breakup 
of the Soviet Union.

Some 320,000 residents of Soviet Armenia, then a republic of just 1.3 million 
people, were drafted to the Red Army during the bloodiest conflict in the 
history of humankind. The total number of its ethnic Armenian participants from 
various Soviet republics is estimated at more than 500,000. About half of them 
were killed in action.

Armenia - Armenian veterans of World War Two attend Victory Day celebrations in 
Yerevan, May 9, 2023.

In a statement issued on the occasion, Pashinian again praised Armenians’ 
“invaluable” contribution to the defeat of “one of the greatest evils: fascism.”

“About 107 Armenians were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and many 
Armenians received high awards from the USSR and allied countries, ensuring the 
Armenian people's honorable place in the fight against fascism,” he said.

Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturian led a wreath-laying ceremony at a World 
War II memorial located in Yerevan’s Victory Park. Armenian and Russian soldiers 
marched past its eternal fire during the ceremony.

Thousands of people, among them elderly war veterans, visited the memorial in 
the following hours.


Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Only goal of France, EU over Armenia-Azerbaijan relations is restoration of peace – FM Colonna

Garik Boshkezenian

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 12:11,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. The only goal of France and the EU regarding the regional situation and the Armenia-Azerbaijan relations is the restoration of peace and atmosphere of trust, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told reporters in Jermuk on April 28. 

“Only a peace treaty will allow to truly resolve all outstanding issues stemming from this situation. That is why the EU sent a monitoring mission, which is a civilian mission, an unarmed mission. The goal of the mission is to record the situation on the ground, which allows the EU countries to have direct, first-hand reports on the situation. We believe that the mission is very useful, and it is also due to the work of this mission that we will be able to move forward on the path of peace,” FM Colonna said.

She said it was important for her to visit Jermuk to express support to the EU monitoring mission and on the other hand to see the situation with her own eyes. “Naturally we get informed on the situation based on documents, but seeing it with your own eyes on the ground is also very important, and with this visit we once again reiterate our support to the friendly people of Armenia,” FM Colonna added.

“We understand the situation better by seeing the advancement on these new positions,” she added.

AFP: Azerbaijan Sets Up First Checkpoint on Key Route to Armenia

Garik Boshkezenian

Published By: Pritha Mallick

AFP

Azerbaijan on Sunday set up a checkpoint on the only land link between Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, sparking an angry response from its arch-rival Yerevan.

The move fuels tensions between the ex-Soviet Caucasus nations that fought two wars over Azerbaijan’s Armenian-majority region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The units of the Azerbaijani Border Service established a border checkpoint on the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, at the entrance of the Lachin-Khankendi road," the state border service said.

Baku and Yerevan went to war in 2020 and in the 1990s over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Under the Russia-brokered ceasefire that ended the 2020 conflict, Azerbaijan is required to guarantee safe passage on the Lachin corridor, which is patrolled by Russian peacekeepers.

Azerbaijan, however, said it set up the checkpoint at 12:00 pm (0800 GMT) on Sunday “to prevent the illegal transportation of manpower, weapons, mines."

It added the checkpoint “shall be implemented in interaction with the Russian peacekeeping force."

Since last year tensions have risen over the Lachin corridor, with Russia focused on its offensive in Ukraine.

In December, Azerbaijani activists blocked the Lachin corridor to protest what they claim was illegal mining.

Yerevan accused Baku of staging the demonstrations and creating a humanitarian crisis in the mountainous enclave.

In a new escalation on Sunday, Azerbaijan said it built the checkpoint following “threats and provocations" from Armenia, which denied the claims.

Baku accused Yerevan of using the corridor for the rotation of army staff, “the transfer of weapons and ammunition, entrance of terrorists, as well as illicit trafficking of natural resources and cultural property."

It said it recorded military convoys entering Azerbaijan’s territory and “the construction of military infrastructure… at the point closest to the territory of Azerbaijan."

The Armenian foreign ministry said the claims were a “far-fetched and baseless pretext".

It said setting up the checkpoint was “a gross violation" of the 2020 ceasefire agreement, part of Baku’s “policy of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh."

Separatist authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh called on “the Russian Federation to immediately begin discussions" including on “preventing the establishment" of the checkpoint.

Distracted by its offensive in Ukraine and the confrontation with the West, Russia has been visibly losing influence in the region, which it sees as its traditional sphere of influence.

Yerevan, which relies on Russia  as a security guarantor, has grown frustrated over the Kremlin’s failure to fulfil its peacekeeping role.

Several servicemen from both sides have been killed in clashes in recent months.

And on Sunday, Armenia reported Azerbaijan’s forces killed one of its servicemen.

Azerbaijan said it was responding to enemy fire.

https://www.news18.com/world/azerbaijan-sets-up-first-checkpoint-on-key-route-to-armenia-7620319.html

ALSO APPEARED AT

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3218080/azerbaijan-sets-first-checkpoint-only-land-route-armenia

Armenpress: Yerevan 2023 EWF European Weightlifting Championships: Day 8

Garik Boshkezenian

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 09:31,

YEREVAN, APRIL 22, ARMENPRESS. Athletes in the 87kg women’s category and 102kg, 109kg men’s category will take the stage today at the 2023 EWF European Weightlifting Championships in Yerevan as the competition enters the 8th day.

Armenia has three athletes competing today in the men’s division – Garik Karapetyan (102kg), Samvel Gasparyan (109kg) and Petros Petrosyan (109kg); and two athletes in the women’s division – Hripsime Khurshudyan and Margarita Arakelyan.

 



Armenian Prime Minister extends Eid Al-Fitr felicitations to Arab states

Garik Boshkezenian

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 10:40,

YEREVAN, APRIL 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has congratulated leaders of several Arab states on Eid Al-Fitr, the Prime Minister’s Office said Friday.

“On the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent congratulatory messages to the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, the President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Vice President, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, President Bashar al-Assad of the Syrian Arab Republic and Prime Minister Hussein Arnous, King Abdullah II Bin Al-Hussein Al-Hashimi of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman Al-Saud, King of Bahrain Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Bin Taimur Al-Said In of the Sultanate of Oman, Amir of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, President of the Republic of Tunisia Kais Saied, Emir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Lebanon Najib Mikati, the Prime Minister of Kurdistan Region of Iraq Masrour Barzani.

The Prime Minister wished the leaders of the mentioned countries good health and happiness, and long-lasting peace and well-being to their peoples,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a press release.

Armenpress: Inter’s Mkhitaryan becomes first ever Armenian football player to enter Champions League semi-finals

Garik Boshkezenian

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 09:34,

YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. Inter star Henrikh Mkhitaryan became the first Armenian player ever to enter the UEFA Champions League semi-finals after the Inter vs. Benfica quarter-final match ended 3:3.

Champions League semi-finals:

Tuesday 9 May
Real Madrid vs Man City

Wednesday 10 May
AC Milan vs Inter

Tuesday 16 May
Inter vs AC Milan

Wednesday 17 May
Man City vs Real Madrid

AraratBank has been awarded the title of Valued Partner of EBRD

Garik Boshkezenian

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 12:32,

YEREVAN, APRIL 19, ARMENPRESS. by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for lasting and effective cooperation between EBRD and AraratBank.
 
As informed by the bank, the effective and long-term cooperation between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and AraratBank started as early as 2007.

Around two years under this cooperation were invested in implementing the Institutional Building Program, which involved provision of appropriate training for almost all divisions of AraratBank, reorganization and adaptation of processes to international standards, introduction of corporate management culture and undertaking of reform measures in risk management and assessment processes.
 
“The first major achievement of the bank was the signing of two contracts with the EBRD to promote international trade and to finance the SME sector in Armenia. The cooperation enabled the bank to take its place among the leading banks of Armenia and provide its customers with services that meet the standards of the European banking sector,” said Zaruhi Melkonyan, Head of International Operations Department at AraratBank.]

“The EU4Business – EBRD credit line program is a joint EU-EBRD initiative, which helps Armenian SMEs finance investments in equipment and facility upgrades,” the bank’s press release reads.

The prize was awarded on April 14 at the event on EU4Business-EBRD Credit Line in Armenia – Impact to date and Way Ahead, held at DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, Yerevan.

Partnership between Yerevan and Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt to encompass business ties

Garik Boshkezenian

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 12:45,

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Acting Mayor of Yerevan Levon Hovhannisyan met with Gunnar Schellenberger, the president of the parliament (Landtag) of the German federal state Saxony-Anhalt to discuss development of business ties and implementation of joint projects, Yerevan City Hall said in a press release.

The honorary consul of Armenia in Saxony Lucas Flother was also present at the meeting.

Speaking about the city economy development programs, Hovhannisyan said that given the high level Armenian-German relations the City Hall is open and willing to consider mutually beneficial investment offers.

Schellenberger expressed the interest of their businesses in establishing partnership in various areas. Offers were made regarding new projects and exchange of experience in education and healthcare.

Speaking about a memorandum of intent on establishing friendly relations between Yerevan and Leipzig in Saxony, signed in 2021, the German side expressed hope that the agreement could develop into a clear program of partnership. Schellenberger invited his Yerevan colleagues to visit Germany.