Minister of Emergency Situations Andranik Piloyan has been arrested within the framework of a criminal case being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Committee.
Press Secretary of the Committee Marina Ohanjanyan confirmed the news to Public Radio of Armenia.
She refrained from providing further information, noting that the details will be published tomorrow.
12:01, 31 March, 2022
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Within its proposals Armenia is ready to open with Azerbaijan the road and railway, but considers it necessary to sign an agreement of de jure significance with Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting today.
“Why? Because we see a very concrete risk when Armenia builds both the road and the railway, and Azerbaijan refuses to open the border. And it will turn out that neither Armenia, nor Azerbaijan and third countries will be able to use the infrastructure that required several hundred million dollars of investment, and Armenia will just lose several hundred million dollars. What we are proposing today. We propose to record de jure the agreements reached in Brussels on December 14, 2021, relating to the re-launch of the railway, to agree over the parameters of the railway and start the construction. Or do this with a package, including also the road, and we are ready to do this from the moment when Azerbaijan gives a positive response to our proposals”, the PM said.
He informed that they have also conveyed these proposals to a number of international partners, for whom these proposals are logical, acceptable and address the interests of all countries in the region.
ArmInfo. The talks of the Armenian authorities about peace with Azerbaijan, if they are not accompanied by concrete steps towards the strengthening of Armenia, are a false category. Political scientist Robert Ghevondyan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"We certainly need to talk about peace. But we need to prepare for war. We spoke and prepared for peace back in 2019-20. As a result, the enemy prepared for war and won it. In this light, Prime Minister Pashinyan, of course, has to talk about peace, simultaneously acting towards the formation of real mechanisms for ensuring it, intensively arming the army, creating new opportunities for ensuring security, etc. As far as I understand, all this is not being done, while without it, only talks about the peace has no basis, respectively, prospects," he said.
According to Ghevondyan, all this is especially urgent, against the backdrop of the Aliyev regime initiating more and more provocations in Artsakh. In his opinion, the situation around the village of Parukh is another, not the first and the last, provocation of Azerbaijan as part of its policy of creeping aggression. Especially against the background of the fact that Aliyev does not hide his own goals in the direction of de- Armenization and the final capture of Artsakh.
In this light, not seeing flaws in the performance of their own duties by Russian peacekeepers, the political scientist determines the current situation in Artsakh by the effective use by Azerbaijan of the opportunities that have opened up as a result of Ukraine and all related processes. In this light, Ghevondyan recalled that another Azerbaijani provocation followed the fact that a month ago the Armenian delegation abstained vote on Ukraine in the UN. The latter, in his opinion, means that Baku actively uses every opportunity, while the Armenian side, as a rule, does not.
"There is only one way out – Armenia must actively arm itself, strengthen its own security. Only this will force Azerbaijan to fulfill its own obligations. Moreover, it will allow us to sometimes go beyond our own obligations when necessary, forcing Baku to act already in our status. A show of force is the only way out to which we resort, as happened the other day in Khramort. But we resort extremely rarely. As for Artsakh specifically, Yerevan has no actual leverage on the situation there. However, Armenia remains one of the beneficiaries of the security of Artsakh residents by Russian peacekeepers. In this light, it may moreover must turn to Moscow demanding the fulfillment of its obligations. Otherwise, for example, it can be proposed to replace the Russian contingent in Artsakh with an international one. "It is clear that in the current geopolitical realities it will be quite difficult to do that, but it does not eliminate the need for action at all," the political scientist concluded.
The law on the purchase of property in Armenia allows citizens of any country to buy non-agricultural real estate in the country, Head of the Cadastre Committee Suren Tovmasyan told reporters on Monday, responding to the remarks that according to some media reports the Turks are buying real estate in Armenia.
"If I'm not mistaken, Turkish citizens have acquired 72 properties in Armenia since 2002. Most of them are apartments, others are small public facilities, etc. We don't see any problem here," Tovmasyan said.
"As for the purchase of real estate by Azerbaijani citizens, they must have tourist passports. That is, they come and get tourist passports from us. As far as I remember, 5-6 citizens of Azerbaijan have Armenian tourist passports," he noted.
Tovmasyan dismissed claims that more citizens of Turkey and Azerbaijan have purchased property in Armenia in recent years.
Separately, he said that he had been on vacation for the past three weeks and had been in his native village, Pokr Vedi.
"Accordingly, I supported Garik Sargsyan so that he could win the local elections in the Vedi community, and he succeeded,” Tovmasyan said.
13:47, 24 March, 2022
YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government approved the government support procedure for commercial organizations and private entrepreneurs in the IT sector.
“With this decision we return 50% of the revenue tax for newly created jobs to improve certain conditions for IT organizations,” the State Revenue Committee Chairman Rustam Badasyan said.
“There are two goals: First of all we have a big group of freelancers who work in the shadow, at home, they work under various contracts for foreign organizations and work in the shadow. We offer the kind of conditions for them to benefit from state social credits upon being registered legally, and that being registered becomes more beneficial than not registered. Secondly, many countries fight to keep highly qualified IT experts and there is big competition in this sector. Particularly, various privileges exist in both European countries and in CIS countries. For example in Uzbekistan, Georgia there are various IT sector privileges,” he said, adding that they want Armenian IT companies to be competitive in this context.
Companies qualifying for the support program must have at least 50 new jobs as of March 1. “I mean not the work contracts but the legal contracts. And for these 50 employees the companies must not have had paid revenue tax for the preceding 6 months before March 1. Meaning, this is about completely newly opened jobs.”
14:57, 24 March, 2022
YEREVAN, MRCH 24, ARMENPRESS. Turkish historian Taner Akcam delivered a lecture on the Anatomy of the Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1878-1924, at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens on March 23.
The lecture was organized by the Armenian Embassy in Greece and the Faculty of Political Science and Public Management of the University, the Embassy said in a news release.
The lecture was attended by the University’s students, lecturers, representatives of the Greek parliament and the Armenian community.
Ambassador of Armenia to Greece Tigran Mkrtchyan addressed the event participants online and thanked the University of Athens for assisting to hold the lecture. He highly valued Taner Akcam’s activity in greatly contributing to the education on genocide by his valuable scientific works about genocides and crimes against humanity.
In his remarks the Ambassador touched upon the importance of resolutions authored by Armenia in the UN Human Rights Council on prevention of genocides, and stated that many countries, including Greece, acted as co-authors of the resolution.
During his lecture Turkish historian Taner Akcam talked about the genocide committed against the Christian population in the Ottoman Empire and mentioned the factors which served a base for its implementation.
He said after the assassination of Hrant Dink, the Turkish society has started to face its historical past, however, he adds that Turkey still has a long path to pass for recognizing the fact of Genocide at a state level. He says this is also a matter of legal consequences which is also not clearly perceived in that country.
TheCommittee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution calling for the immediate cancellation of the criminal record of a group of journalists, human rights activists and activists from Azerbaijan, said the head of the Monitoring Group of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, lawyer Khaled Agaliyev, Turan reports.
The document was adopted at a meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe dedicated to monitoring the execution of ECtHR judgments.
The judgments of the ECtHR indicate that these applicants were persecuted for criticizing the authorities and that Article 18 of the European Convention was violated against them. This means that their persecution was politically motivated.
The applicants were released early from prison, but did not receive rehabilitation, so having a criminal record restricts their rights.
Therefore, the Committee of Ministers called on the Azerbaijani authorities to fully comply with the decisions of the ECtHR regarding these persons.
Tonight, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an Omnibus Appropriations Bill wrapping up Fiscal Year 2022 spending that calls for "not less than" $45 million for Armenia and $2 million for humanitarian demining in Artsakh, reported the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly).
The measure also requires "that prior to any initial obligation of funds appropriated under title IV of the Act for assistance for Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Secretary of State shall consult with the Committees on Appropriations on the proposed uses of such funds."
The inclusion of aid comes on the heels of a letter spearheaded by Congressional Armenian Caucus Vice-Chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) along with Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), as well as another letter by Caucus Members Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Jim Costa (D-CA), who urged the leadership of the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs to include an additional $50 million in humanitarian aid to Artsakh.
The bill itself includes language on Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act, and also requires a report on the likelihood of military action against Artsakh "not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act."
There has been widespread reporting of the Aliyev regime's continued violations of the November 2020 ceasefire terms, including the killing of Armenians in cross-border shootings. This week alone, Azeri forces blocked repair of damaged main gas supply to Nagorno Karabakh amid reports that they cut the pipeline themselves, under cover of war in Ukraine. Just yesterday, an Armenian soldier was killed, and another wounded, in a ceasefire violation on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan's Nakhichevan exclave. In addition, Artsakh officials have reported today that Azerbaijan's army is "actively" using high-caliber mortars and automatic weapons to target Artsakh's rural communities forcing farmers to suspend "all types of agricultural work." Moreover, for the last two days and counting, the people of Artsakh have been deprived of a vital gas supply pipeline while the Azeri military refuses access to determine the cause or fix the damage. Meanwhile, Artsakh recently sent over 14 tons of humanitarian aid to help aid the Ukrainian people.
Last week, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a report regarding Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) which found that, according to Chairman Menendez, "the State Department failed to comply with reporting requirements for reviewing U.S. assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan."
Further, according to Chairman Menendez, the GAO report "found that over several years, the Department of State and Department of Defense failed to meet statutory reporting requirements to Congress on the impact of U.S. assistance on the military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan."
Other key findings from the report included that the State's reporting to Congress from FY2014-FY2021 did not address required elements, including the impact on proposed assistance on the military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan; State’s Memorandums of Justification contained limited or no details regarding quantity of assistance, status of the military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the impact of U.S. assistance on the military balance, or the impact of the assistance on peace negotiations; State’s 2021 guidance did not provide detailed instructions to agencies about reporting requirements to Congress; and that State and DoD did not document their consideration of waiver requirements from FY2014-FY2020, including how they determined assistance would not be used for offensive purposes against Armenia.
"As the world bears witness to the ongoing devastation in Ukraine, we urge continued vigilance to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its ongoing attacks against the Armenian people," said Assembly Congressional Relations Director Mariam Khaloyan.
17:00, 9 March, 2022
YEREVAN, MARCH 9, ARMENPRESS. A new resolution has been put into circulation in the European Parliament, which condemns the destruction of cultural heritage in Nagorno Karabakh and calls on Azerbaijan to protect the Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno Karabakh.
The resolution on the Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Nagorno Karabakh particularly notes that numerous religious sites have been attacked during the second Nagorno Karabakh war by Azerbaijani state forces, such as the Holy Mother of God church in Jabrail region and the Holy Saviour Cathedral in Shushi. It says that under Heydar Aliyev and later his son Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan is thought to have erased up to 100 Armenian churches, thousands of cross-stones (Khachkar), dozens of thousands of tombstones, and other objects of cultural heritage in Nakhichevan, which, the resolution adds, is indicative of the potential fate of Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno Karabakh too, whereas existence of Armenian cultural sites in Nakhichevan region is denied by Azerbaijani authorities.
It is stated in the resolution that “according to Resolution 2347 (2017) of the UN Security Council, unlawful attacks against sites and buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, as well as historic monuments may constitute a war crime and perpetrators of such attacks must be brought to justice”.
The resolution strongly condemns the destruction of cultural heritage in Nagorno Karabakh, calls on the UNESCO to assess fully the state of the cultural heritage in Nagorno Karabakh in the framework of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, and to follow up with the appropriate recommendations to all parties, calls on the EU to provide adequate support.
The resolution calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to cooperate fully with international investigations and live up to their obligations pursuant to the aforementioned 1954 Hague convention.
It also calls on Azerbaijan to cooperate fully with the UNESCO to provide unhindered access to a fact-finding mission.
The resolution calls on Azerbaijan to protect the Armenian cultural heritage in and around Nagorno Karabakh, fully implementing the provisional decision of ICJ, in particular by “refraining from suppressing the Armenian language, destroying Armenian cultural heritage or otherwise eliminating the existence of the historical Armenian cultural presence or inhibiting Armenians’ access and enjoyment thereof” and by “restoring or returning any Armenian cultural and religious buildings and sites, artifacts or objects”.
It calls on the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia, with the support of the international community, to ensure effective investigations of all allegations of violations of international law, including regarding the protection of cultural heritage and attacks such as on the Holy Saviour Cathedral in Shushi on 8 October 2020.
It also “urges the Armenian and particularly Azerbaijani governments to stop propaganda of hate and racial prejudice through textbooks, social media and, in case of Azerbaijan, through the so-called Military Trophy Park and work towards rebuilding trust among the two societies and respect to each other’s culture, calls for renewed efforts to build confidence between both countries and make progress towards sustainable peace”.
17:23,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Acting President Alen Simonyan signed decrees on new appointments in the Armed Forces.
Armen Gyozalyan was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces/Head of the General Tactical Department of the General Staff. He was earlier the Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the Special Army Corps.
Seryozha Stepanyan was appointed Head of the Morale Support Department of the Armenian Armed Forces.
Vachagan Nersesyan was appointed Head of the Department of Military Training of the General Department of Readiness of the Armenian Armed Forces.
Gor Nikoyan was appointed Chief of the Rocket and Artillery Forces of the Armenian Armed Forces.
Karen Grigoryan was appointed Chief of the Engineering Troops of the Armenian Armed Forces.
Arayik Minasyan was appointed Deputy Commander of the Special Army Corps.
Bagrat Matevosyan was appointed Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the Special Army Corps.