21:48,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28 ARMENPRESS. The number of deaths caused by novel coronavirus in the world reaches the threshold of 5 million, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Worldometer website.
According to the source, 4,992,387 people have died from COVID-19 worldwide and more than 246 million people have been infected since the outbreak.
The number of deaths had reached 4 million in July.
Since the end of last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh, both Iran and Turkey have proposed regional cooperation initiatives. These could, however, further undermine the region’s fragile security.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the South Caucasus has been ravaged by conflict, despite several regional initiatives designed to put an end to war and pave the way for regional cooperation.
These proposals have included the Peaceful Caucasus Initiative, put forward in the 1990s by Georgia’s then-president Eduard Shevardnadze, the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform – first proposed by Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan when he was prime minister – and United Caucasus, an idea of Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili.
Even though these initiatives were seen as a win-win for all parties, none of them managed gain any traction, as they failed to receive the backing of the all major players in the region.
Last year, after the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, Erdoğan – now Turkey’s president – made a new proposal, to create a six-country regional cooperation platform, which would encompass the three states of the South Caucasus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, together with the region’s biggest neighbours: Turkey, Russia and Iran.
Pitching his idea in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, Erdoğan emphasised the need for a new initiative in the war-torn South Caucasus that would benefit all sides and could even “turn a new page in Turkey-Armenia ties”.
At the same time, Iran also made a proposal to create a similar six-party cooperation platform, known as the 3 + 3. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif visited Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and Turkey to try and sell the idea, and to consult their leaders on how to “coordinate on regional issues”.
The two initiatives have met with mixed reactions. While Russia and Turkey (and to a lesser extent Azerbaijan) showed much enthusiasm, Georgia and Armenia have been wary as they view them as a potential new threat.
Moscow, which has increased its military presence in the South Caucasus since the end of the Karabakh war, has been particularly keen on the idea. On October 6, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov even made an announcement that Moscow was committed to the establishment of a new 3+3 format to “address the issues of security, unblocking economic and transport ties”.
Russia sees the initiative as a new opportunity to reassert its influence in the South Caucasus and undermine what it views as “western encroachment” in its zone of “special interest”.
According to Emil Avdaliani, director of Middle East Studies at Geocase, a Tbilisi-based think tank, Russia would gain a great deal as the initiative “would strengthen Moscow’s economic and political position in the South Caucasus, and remove alternatives to the Russian vision of the geopolitical order”.
”Moscow would use it for blocking external, non-regional players,” he tells Emerging Europe. “The platform is an efficient tool for Moscow to close off the South Caucasus from the collective West. The Kremlin wants to achieve this with the help of other regional powers – Iran and partially Turkey. Moscow aspires to build what I would call a hierarchical order where Russia will be a primary player but will be acknowledging the basic interests of Iran and Turkey.”
Iran would similarly profit from the initiative, especially considering the outcome of the war. The ceasefire agreement increased the Russian and Turkish presence in the region, but left Tehran as a bystander.
The South Caucasus has special geostrategic importance for Tehran as it is a gateway to the Black Sea and Europe through Armenia and Georgia. Closer cooperation with the states of the South Caucasus is a key priority for Iranian foreign policy.
The 3+3 or six-party cooperation format would boost Iran’s strategic location as it sits astride two important trans-continental transportation corridors: the North-South Corridor and the Persian Gulf–Black Sea Transit Corridor.
“Railways and road infrastructure projects could be implemented which will allow more penetration by Iran into the region. However, the geopolitical constraints the Islamic Republic faces will remain in place,”Avdaliani says.
Similarly, the initiatives would benefit Turkey, which has recently started to expand its regional influence.
For instance, Turkey, along with Azerbaijan, has been pushing for the construction of a transport link between Azerbaijan and Turkey via southern Armenia that could solidify Ankara’s transport connection with the South Caucasus and at the same boost the region’s geo-economic importance, something that largely attracts Azerbaijan too.
Georgia and Armenia meanwhile view the initiatives put forward by Turkey and Iran as a threat, even though both are ostensibly focussed on cooperation in the areas of economy and transport.
Armenia has serious concerns due to what it views as the unfavourable outcome of the Karabakh conflict.
Post-war border tensions between Baku and Yerevan have further undermined the prospect of a lasting peace between the two countries, deepening the sense of insecurity in Yerevan.
A substantial issue for Armenia has been the interpretation of the term “corridor” mentioned in Article 9 of the ceasefire agreement.
While Azerbaijani side has argued that the document gives it the right to establish an overland transit route linking mainland Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave via southern Armenia’s Syunik province, Armenia has claimed that the term “corridor” refers only to Lachin, a narrow strip which connects Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh.
Comments from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that the southern regions of Armenia used to be the “ancestral land” of Azerbaijanis have exacerbated the situation.
The proposed cooperation platforms are even more concerning for Georgia as they do not comply with the country’s national interests.
Russia continues to occupy one-fifth of Georgia’s internationally recognised territory, the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where occupying forces have demarcated administrative lines, an illegal process known as “borderisation”.
Moreover, the Russian presence (and at the same time absence of the EU and US) makes it even more difficult for Tbilisi to become a member of the initiative. Tbilisi has long sough both EU and NATO membership – a policy supported by the overwhelming majority of the country’s population.
“As a country which pursues NATO and EU membership and considers becoming part of the West as the historical mission of the Georgian people will see a diminution of its chances if Russia manages to impose the 3+3 order in the South Caucasus. The net result is that facing Russia alone, without western support, will doom Tbilisi’s aspirations to re-integrate occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali [South Ossetia],” says Avdaliani.
Alexandre Petriashvili, a senior fellow at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, also thinks that the initiative is a threat for Georgia and that if the country is somehow dragged into it, Georgia would be confronted by its biggest enemy – Russia.
“A new crack could emerge between Georgia and its western partners, and Georgia would function as a territory for the interests of others rather than as a fully-fledged partner,” he says.
Ministry of High Tech Industry and Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises announce the inaugural edition of DigiWeek, Armenia's largest Technology event
10:09 ET | Source: Ministry of High Tech Industry of the Republic of Armenia
…
YEREVAN, Armenia, Oct. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Ministry of High Technology Industry of Armenia and the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE) announced the inaugural edition of DigiWeek, a week-long series of events focused on the growing high-technology industry in Armenia. DigiWeek will take place from October 27 to November 3, 2021 in Yerevan and Gyumri. The anchor event for DigiWeek will be Digitec, Armenia's largest technology exhibition.
"The Ministry of High Tech Industry is pleased to organize the first DigiWeek for Armenia," stated Davit Sahakyan, First Deputy Minister of High Technology Industry. "Our objective is to conduct a full week of panels to discuss current and future challenges and opportunities in technology in Armenia and beyond. By incorporating all of these events into one week, international guests can maximize their exposure and contribution to Armenia's most important technology forum."
Raffi Kassarjian, Executive Director of UATE, stated that Digitec Expo will be the largest ever, with over 100 companies and 1400 m2 of exhibition space in the spacious sports arena at K. Demirchyan Sports Complex. Mr. Kassarjian also introduced a critical new component for Digitec, entitled Digitec Summit, an exclusive conference bringing together technologists from around the world to discuss key issues and opportunities facing the tech industry in Armenia and beyond. "This year's Digitec is entitled "Thriving in a post-Covid World," and we are gathering some of the most visionary and successful technological minds to discuss how we can turn challenges posed by the pandemic into tomorrow's opportunities," stated Mr. Kassarjian. Senior executives from some of the most successful international and Armenian-founded companies operating in Armenia, including CodeSignal, Disqo, Krisp, PicsArt, and ServiceTitan, will share their thoughts and predictions on how the pandemic has affected the way we collaborate, conduct business, teach and learn, and innovate together.
In addition to Digitec, the following events will also take place: The Hyetech Showcase this year is focused on identifying a talented workforce in Armenia and beyond. The Digital Transformation event is organized by the Ministry of High Technology Industry, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and the Operator's Union of Armenia. The Koreez Competition awards the best students and teachers across Armenia, assessing their performance in STEM subjects such as math, physics, chemistry, and biology. The three DigiWeek21 thematic events, Science and Sustainability Summit, Artificial Intelligence Summit and Venture Summit, are bringing together some of the most renowned experts in these fields to meet with current and aspiring entrepreneurs.
About the event: Launched in 2005, Digitec is the largest technological exhibition in the trans-Caucasus region and the annual marquee event for Armenian technology. Every year, Digitec showcases the achievements and potential of the rapidly-growing tech industry both within Armenia as well as throughout the global reach of the Armenian technology network. Digitec21 Expo will be the largest ever, with over 100 companies exhibiting in a much larger venue. Based on the successful execution of the World Congress of Information Technology (WCIT) in 2019, the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises has launched Digitec Summit as an international conference focused on exploring how emerging technology-oriented countries respond to global challenges and opportunities. The conference consists of a series of keynote panel discussions moderated by international technology journalists and features both in-person and online participation by leading entrepreneurs, executives, policy-makers, and members of research and academia.
Digitec is the anchor event for DigiWeek, the inaugural edition of a week-long series of events organized by the Ministry of High Technology Industry of Armenia and UATE. In addition to Digitec21, the following events will take place: HyeTech Showcase, DigiWeek Science and Sustainability Summit, DigiWeek AI Summit, and DigiWeek Venture Summit. As all of these events occur in the same week, guests are able to maximize their exposure and contribution to the region's most important technological symposium.
Media contacts:
Company Name: Ministry of High Tech Industry of the Republic of Armenia
Contact Person: Ms. Margarita Achikyan
Contact Person Title: Assistant to the Deputy Minister
City, Country: Yerevan, Armenia
Company E-mail:
Website: http://www.hti.am
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/10/25/2319985/0/en/DigiWeek-Armenia-s-Largest-Technology-Event-Will-Be-Launched-on-Oct-27.html
13:58,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Healthcare has recommended the education ministry to extend the autumn break in schools over rising rates of COVID-19 infections, the Healthcare Ministry spokesperson Hripsime Khachatryan told ARMENPRESS.
“We’ve recommended universities to switch to remote education and to extend the school break for a week,” Khachatryan said.
1184 new cases of COVID-19 and 42 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
The deputy prime ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met in Moscow on October 20 to discuss the unblocking of communications infrastructure.
The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s US affiliate raises $1 million for the Armenian community in Lebanon.
Around $3.5 million has been spent thus far on hotel costs to house displaced people in Nagorno-Karabakh.
2nd Army Corps in charge of protecting Armenia’s eastern border ready to fulfill any objective, says deputy commander
15:16,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The situation at the eastern border of Armenia is peaceful and stable at the moment, and the recent military escalation in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact where an Azeri attack left 6 Armenian troops wounded did not impact the stability of the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border, Deputy Commander of the 2nd Army Corps of the Armenian Armed Forces Colonel Hayk Petrosyan told reporters at a military post.
Colonel Petrosyan, who is in charge of the military morale of the 2nd Army Corps, stressed that his troops are a combat-ready formation capable of fulfilling any military objective. He said that any adversary provocation will receive adequate assessment from the Armenian military.
“We are now located in one of the military positions of the army corps protection area where border protection is conducted. The combat position is being equipped, it’s already in the final phase, there are observation posts, firing positions where on-duty troops are observing the adversary’s movement with the purpose of assessing and controlling the nature of its potential actions,” Colonel Petrosyan said.
He said that the latest provocation against their positions took place on July 28, when Azerbaijani servicemen attacked a military position near Vardenis, but were repelled.
Nevertheless, he added, despite the post-war military-political situation and significant changes of the line of contact the Azerbaijani military’s conduct hasn’t changed.
“The adversary is the same adversary,” he said. “The 2nd Army Corps, which is deployed at this border, is a combat-ready formation capable of fulfilling any objective. This was proven during the military actions of the 44-day war. Particularly now the army corps is capable of neutralizing any adversary provocation,” the colonel said.
“As a seasoned military expert I can assure you that the adversary is evaluating the military formations and military bases which stand in front of it. If the adversary were to think that they could fulfill some kind of an objective they will definitely go for it. We are not allowing this, we will thwart it with relevant actions,” the colonel said.
Reporting by Aram Sargsyan
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Tensions between Azerbaijan and Iran have reached a boiling point in recent weeks. There are three main reasons behind the strained relationship, including perceptions that Azerbaijan has been strengthening ties with Israel amid the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict. Azerbaijan also launched a joint military exercise with Pakistan and Turkey — a country competing with Iran in Middle East leadership — on September 1. Additionally, in mid-September, Azerbaijan imposed a road tax on Iranian trucks traveling through Azerbaijani territories.
Iran and Azerbaijan are divided by a 700-kilometer border. Parts of this territory and the entry roads were long under Armenia's control, following the first Karabakh war that ended with the 1994 ceasefire. In 2020, after the 44-day second Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan regained control over large swathes of this territory, including entry roads and land on the Iranian border.
Azerbaijan also resented perceptions that Tehran backed Armenia during the recent conflict. Despite this, the relations were somewhat normal until Azerbaijan decided in September 2021 to impose road tax on Iranian trucks using roadways that are now under the control of Azerbaijan. When Armenia controlled those roads, vehicles could pass freely without having to pay any tax.
Two Iranian truck drivers were arrested on September 15, 2021, further escalating tensions. Baku officials said the two are still being detained and have been charged with smuggling and illegally crossing the Azerbaijani state border.
Northern Iran is populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis who make up the largest non-Persian minority in Iran. During the war last year, ethnic Azerbaijanis organized protests in support of the war in several cities in Iran. “Iran has traditionally stayed neutral in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But as tensions have risen, the narrative in Azerbaijan has shifted toward portraying Iran as purely and actively pro-Armenian,” wrote journalist Joshua Kuchera in his overview of tensions on October 12. Not all agree with this view, though, as political analyst Eldar Mamedov: explained in an interview with Eurasianet, “Iran has repeatedly supported Azerbaijan's territorial integrity on the level of political and religious leadership.”
Iran repeated its support for Azerbaijan during the 44-day war when President Hassan Rohani's chief of staff Mahmud Vaezi told Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev that, “The stance of the Islamic republic on Azerbaijan has always been clear and transparent as it has always recognized the neighboring country's territorial integrity and respected it.”
Others, like Touraj Atabaki, professor emeritus of the social history of the Middle East and Central Asia at Leiden University in the Netherlands, believe Iran is concerned about being politically sidelined. In an interview with Radio Liberty, Atabaki said, “Turkey has the second-largest NATO army, and Pakistan is a nuclear power in the region. When these two countries join Azerbaijan in military maneuvers, it worries Russia and Iran — and the Islamic republic's military maneuver [reflects] its concern.”
In addition, Iran views Azerbaijan as Israel's proxy, explained Abbas Qaidari, a researcher on international security and defense policy. Israel and Azerbaijan share a military alliance, and Azerbaijan has received Israeli military and surveillance equipment. “That relationship has been strong for years, although it has been newly visible since last year's war, in which Azerbaijan used Israeli weaponry to significant effect,” wrote journalist Joshua Kuchera on September 30.
To understand a rapidly changing situation, here is a timeline of the most recent events:
August 26 — Azerbaijan blocked the Goris-Kapan road, Armenia's only highway to Iran, for nearly 48 hours. Goris and Kapan are the two main towns of southern Armenia. In addition to connecting these two towns, the road includes a 21 kilometer-long segment that passes through Azerbaijan's newly regained territory.
The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan summoned Iran's ambassador to Baku to share a diplomatic note expressing Azerbaijan's dissatisfaction with Iranian trucks illegally entering parts of Karabakh now controlled by Azerbaijan.
September 12 — Azerbaijan launched a joint military exercise with Turkey and Pakistan.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry asked the Russian Defense Ministry that Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in Karabakh prevent “illegal crossing of third-country vehicles into the territories of Azerbaijan.”
September 13 — Azerbaijan confirmed it set up checkpoints and was collecting customs payments at the Goris-Kapan road.
September 23 — Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
September 27 — President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with the Turkish Anadolu Agency that Iranian trucks were using that route “illegally” prior to the second Karabakh war.
He also criticized the Iranian military exercises, saying to Turkey's Anadolu Agency: “Every country can carry out any military drill on its own territory. It's their sovereign right. But why now, and why on our border?”
September 30 — Iran's Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, at a meeting with Azerbaijan's new ambassador to Tehran, said Iran wouldn't “tolerate the presence and activity” of Israel against the country's national security and the country will take actions if such need arises.
The country also announced it would hold large-scale military exercises near the Azerbaijani border, following another set of drills in the same region reported Eurasianet.
October 1 — Tehran launched military drills near its northwestern border with Azerbaijan.
October 3 — Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, tweeted in Azerbaijani, “those who dig pits for their brothers will fall into those pits themselves.”
In response, Azerbaijan held another joint drill with Turkey, this time in its Nakhchivan enclave on October 5.
The rehearsals of the Unwavering Brotherhood-2021 exercise, which will be held in Nakhchivan with the participation of our 3rd Army Command and Azerbaijan Nakhchivan Army Command, were carried out successfully.
October 4 — Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry dismissed Iran's claims of a third-party presence, calling them baseless.
October 5 — President Ilham Aliyev dismissed Tehran's allegation of an unofficial Israeli presence in the country. “Let them open their eyes and look. Where do they see Israel here? Not a single person lives here. There is not a single building here. Is there proof? No,” Aliyev told reporters speaking to them from Jabrail, just a few miles from the border with Iran. The president asserted that baseless allegations wouldn't go unanswered.
The same day, Azerbaijani media reported that Iran cut off its airspace to Azerbaijani military flights, while Azerbaijani authorities shut down a mosque and an office of Seyyed Ali Akbar Ojaghnejad, a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, citing a spike in COVID infections at the mosque.
October 6 — Iran's Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said Tehran was “deeply concerned by Israel's presence in the Caucasus.”
October 13 — Questions over what triggered the tensions remain. However, both Iran and Azerbaijan expressed interest in resolving the current diplomatic crisis through dialogue on October 13. Following a phone call with his counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, the two officials announced the de-escalation effort.
16:31, 6 October, 2021
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS. During his official visit in Russia Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan and his delegation visited the Holy Transfiguration Church of the New Nakhijevan and Russia Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Parliament’s press service said.
Primate of the Diocese Archbishop Ezras Nersisyan delivered his blessings to the Speaker and his delegation, wishing productive activity.
At the meeting Speaker Simonyan presented some details from his visit to Russia. The meeting also focused on the Homeland-Diaspora ties and the role and importance of the Armenian church in this process. Issues relating to the Diocese were also discussed.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Sigrid Burton, Tingis (#120L-1), 2020, 30 x 60 inches, oil on linen
LOS ANGELES—Tufenkian Fine Arts will present, “Multifaceted,” a two-part show featuring artworks by twelve contemporary artists co-curated between John David O’Brien and Caroline Tufenkian in the downstairs gallery space and a selection of artworks by John David O’Brien in the upstairs gallery space. “Multifaceted” seeks to subvert the traditional art historical paradigm of summarizing single artists as one evolving line of stylistic continuance, ignoring the multidimensional aspects which are often present in their creative sphere. The exhibition will run from Saturday, October 16, and will be on view through Saturday, November 20.
The placement of artworks by Sigrid Burton, Stephen Douglas, Mary Addison Hackett, Gegam Kacherian, Kaye Freeman, Noel Korten, Erika Lizée, Farzad Kohan, Wendy Adest, Garo Antreasian, Fatemeh Burnes, and Jennifer Gunlock together was meant by Tufenkian and O’Brien to be a homage to their artistic bandwidth, individually and collectively. “Multifaceted” places these artists, varied in their practices and creative expressions, within the same space without attempting to reconcile their differences. This exhibition was conceptualized as an experiment in pluralism, celebrating the manifold dimensions of the world which we share together.
There was a time in which competing views and artistic ideals were pitted one against the other. Was a more abstract worldview more significant than a more figurative worldview? Was a color laden expansion more noteworthy than a monochromatic reduction? As a viewer, we can decide which of these positions best represents the world around us as we perceive it, however, those same personal decisions are often revised historically on a regular basis. In this thread lies the richness and infinite mutability of the visual arts as a tool for deciphering the world around us through its translation into color and form.
Having grown up in an art world firmly rooted in the Italian tradition before re-rooting in California’s artistic landscape, John David O’Brien was never able to reconcile the differences that existed between these two worlds. Rejecting any singular resolution to this dilemma, O’Brien has chosen to accept that these separate trends were equally aspirational in their reach, and therefore equal in value. O’Brien’s practice references the history of Arte Povera in Italy and fuses it with West Coast Assemblage art. “Multifaceted” celebrates the plentitude of ways in which art is meant to explore the extent, the bounty, and the depth of our art world.
Catholicos of All Armenians meets with Pope Francis, emphasizes POWs issue
20:50, 6 October, 2021
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II met with Pope Francis in the Vatican, ARMENPRESS was infomred from the press service of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
During the conversation Karekin II referred to the catastrophic consequences of the 44-day war, the current challenges facing Armenia and Artsakh, especially emphasizing the issue of the return of prisoners of war and those taken captive in the post-war period.
The Catholicos of All Armenians also thanked Pope Francis for the support provided to Armenia and Armenian people during the war.
Afterwards, the delegation led by His Holiness Karekin II met with Secretary of State of the Vatican Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
During the conversation, reference was made to the situation in the region after the 44-day Artsakh war. In particular, issues related to the security of the people of Artsakh, the encroachments on the sovereign territory of Armenia, as well as the preservation of the Armenian spiritual and cultural heritage in the territories under the control of Azerbaijan were discussed. The Catholicos of All Armenians greatly highlighted the role of the international community in overcoming the existing challenges and problems.