11:39,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Protesters demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan are rallying outside the government headquarters in Yerevan where a Cabinet meeting is underway.
Earlier, the protesters were rallying outside the parliament building on December 9.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Syrian mercenaries tell BBC that Azerbaijanis used them as ''cannon fodder'' in NK
18:11,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Syrian mercenaries who participated in the war against Artsakh unleashed by Azerbaijan told BBC how they were used as ''cannon fodder''.
''We were told that our mission will be patrolling Azerbaijani borders as border guards. We were offered 2 thousand USD monthly for that job. We agreed but when we arrived in Azerbaijan, we were taken to the frontline the next day’', a Syrian mercenary told BBC.
According to him, there were 30 of them in that section of the front line, and after walking 50 meters a rocket fell near them.
''Endless shooting lasted nearly 30 meters. Those minutes seemed to be a century. At that time I regretted for coming to Azerbaijan'', he said.
The mercenaries told the reporter that death was everywhere and they were used as ''cannon fodder'', while the probability of survival was only 1%.
The Syrian mercenaries that participated in the war against Artsakh were sent by Turkey, which has been confirmed by Russia, France and a Pentagon source of the USA.
11:10, 7 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. 407 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been confirmed in Armenia in the past one day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 142,344, the ministry of healthcare said today.
853 more patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 117,649.
1349 tests were conducted in the past one day.
18 more patients have died, raising the death toll to 2344.
The number of active cases is 21,756.
The number of patients who had coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 595 (7 new such cases).
Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Armenia, Russia FMs highlight 'speedy implementation' of exchanging bodies, captives of Artsakh War
15:05, 7 December, 2020
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian and Russian foreign ministers both attached importance to the speedy implementation of the exchange of POWs and the bodies of the victims of the Artsakh War, a clause under the Russia-mediated Karabakh armistice signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“The exchange of the captives is a highly important matter,” Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said in an expanded format meeting with the Armenian FM Ara Aivazian in Moscow. “We will try to mediate through our peacekeepers to complete with issue as soon as possible. We know that this a very difficult matter for the families and friends of those who are held captive, as well as the issue of the exchange of the bodies of the victims, which should also be solved,” Lavrov said.
Armenian FM Ara Aivazian noted that the exchange of captives is more actual in the light of evidence showing inhumane treatment of Armenian prisoners by Azerbaijani soldiers.
“Certainly, the issue of the search for the servicemen missing in action, the exchange of captives and the bodies of the victims is a very sensitive issue and requires speedy solution. This is more actual under the circumstances of facts of barbaric acts against [Armenian] servicemen, and not only,” Aivazian said, referring to the Azeri mistreatment and torture of both servicemen and civilians.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Azerbaijan is resolute to reintegrate its citizens of Armenian origin living in the Nagorno-Karabakh region into the country's political, social and economic sphere, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said Thursday.
Azerbaijan's foreign minister made the remarks at the 27th Meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Bayramov, during the videoconference, talked about the Nagorno-Karabakh operation that liberated occupied territories, and the cease-fire deal signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia under the mediation of Russia.
He said the trilateral statement signed on Nov. 10 had created the ground for putting an end to the 30-year armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and added that the deal includes an important article on the return of Azerbaijani migrants to their homes under the supervision of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
In contrast, Armenia had forced over 1 million Azerbaijanis to leave their homes after 1980.
Bayramov thanked Turkey and Russia for their efforts toward making this agreement a reality.
"These neighboring states play an important role as guarantors of the above-mentioned agreement, the implementation of which will ensure long-overdue peace and stability in the South Caucasus region," he stressed.
Bayramov underlined that after the return of the Aghdam, Kalbajar and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani and Armenian residents of these areas will have equal rights, irrespective of their ethnic background.
"Azerbaijan is resolute to reintegrate its citizens of Armenian origin residing in the territories of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan into its political, social, economic space, guaranteeing the same rights and freedoms with all the citizens of Azerbaijan regardless of their ethnic, religious affiliation on an equal and nondiscriminatory basis. The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan provides a solid legal framework in this regard," he said.
"Peaceful coexistence of Azerbaijani and Armenian residents of the conflict-affected territories based on respect to each other's security, ethnic and religious identity within the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must and shall be finally ensured," he added.
Bayramov also noted that with the agreement, all economic and transport links in the region will be opened and a Turkish-Russian joint monitoring center will be established to monitor the implementation of the agreements.
Relations between the former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
Fresh clashes erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan in late September, rekindling the Caucasus neighbors' decadeslong conflict over the region.
During the conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several towns and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the Armenian occupation.
Fierce fighting persisted for six weeks despite efforts by France, Russia and the U.S. to broker cease-fires, before Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a Moscow-brokered peace deal on Nov. 9.
The agreement was signed after Baku's army overwhelmed the separatist forces and threatened to advance on Karabakh's main city Stepanakert (Khankendi).
The deal has sparked celebrations in Azerbaijan and fury in Armenia, where the country's prime minister, Nikol Pashinian, is facing mounting criticism for agreeing to the deal.
Under the agreement, which leaves Karabakh's future political status in limbo, Armenia lost control of parts of the enclave as well as the seven adjacent districts that it seized during the 1990s war.
Nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have been deployed between the two sides and along the Lachin corridor, a 60-kilometer (35-mile) route through the district that connects Stepanakert to Armenia.
YEREVAN, Armenia – Tens of thousands of opposition supporters marched across the Armenian capital Saturday to push for the resignation of the ex-Soviet nation's prime minister over his handling of the conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
In six weeks of fierce fighting that ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal on Nov. 10, the Azerbaijani army reclaimed lands that Armenian forces have held for more than a quarter-century. Armenia's opposition parties warned Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan there would be civil disobedience across the country if he does not resign by noon on Tuesday.
RELATED: Click here for more coverage of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan
Pashinyan has refused to step down, defending the peace agreement as a painful but necessary move that prevented Azerbaijan from overrunning the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region.
09:08,
STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 26, ARMENPRESS. The State Service of Emergency Situations of Artsakh continues search operations of bodies of killed servicemen in the Martuni and Martakert regions, as well as in the Mataghis-Talish directions, the agency’s spokesperson Hunan Tadevosyan told ARMENPRESS.
Tadevosyan said they have completed the search operations around Shushi.
After completing the work in the abovementioned directions, the rescuers will start searching in Fizuli and Hadrut. “The International Committee of the Red Cross is conducting negotiations, we will start search operations as soon as we receive permission,” Tadevosyan said, adding that search operations are also underway both by the Armenian and Azeri sides in territories that are under Azeri control.
The Russian peacekeepers are participating in the operations.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Ankara managed to get a foothold in the South Caucasus, but Moscow still has the upper hand in the region.
On November 11, Russian troops took over the Lachin corridor connecting Armenia with the breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Their deployment was the first step in implementing a peace deal reached by Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia two days prior.
Under its terms, Moscow agreed to send a 2,000-strong peacekeeping contingent and set up 16 observation points around Nagorno-Karabakh. The deal also confirmed Azerbaijan’s recovery of seven districts around the region, including Shusha (or Shushi in Armenian), its historic capital, following six weeks of fighting with Armenia and the self-proclaimed republic of Artsakh.
Though the agreement is a crown achievement for President Ilham Aliyev, Russia has also made significant gains. Nagorno-Karabakh was the sole “frozen conflict” in the post-Soviet space with no Russian “boots on the ground”. That gave local parties, Yerevan and Baku, greater room for manoeuvre. Azerbaijan was also the only country in the Southern Caucasus without Russian military presence on its soil. This has now changed.
The new status quo today in Nagorno-Karabakh is reminiscent of the breakaway region of Transnistria in Moldova or South Ossetia and Abkhazia, splintering from Georgia, where Moscow emerged as the arbiter from the very start.
The war has played into Putin’s hands by diminishing Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, too. Propelled to power by street protests back in April-May 2018, the former journalist very much fits the profile of a “colour revolutionary” the Kremlin views as a threat.
Though Pashinyan, understandably, never challenged Armenia’s special relationship with Russia, he did take on individuals and clans connected to Moscow. Earlier this year, Serzh Sargsyan, the former president Pashinyan toppled, went on trial for corruption along with several of his ministers. Another ex-president, Robert Kocharyan, who happens to be a personal friend of Putin’s, faced justice over the violent suppression of protests in 2008.
As a result, Pashinyan’s overtures to Moscow, both before and during the war, were by and large rebuffed. In July, Margarita Simonyan, the head of Russian broadcaster RT and one of the Kremlin’s top propagandists, accused the Armenian leadership of anti-Russian activity and said they should not expect Russia’s help in the event of a war.
Now faced with popular anger over territorial losses Pashinyan’s political future hangs in the balance. The Russian leadership will not miss him in case he goes. Pro-Kremlin media are now trumpeting Russia’s role in guarding Armenian historic sites and protecting people on the ground, drawing a stark contrast with Pashinyan’s alleged failures.
But the big question that is on everyone’s mind concerns Turkey. What is its balance sheet in Nagorno-Karabakh? After all, it was President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to give strong military support to the Azeris that tipped the scales.
While Ankara denies reports of Syrian fighters manning the front lines in Nagorno-Karabakh or Turkish officers embedded with Azerbaijan’s forces, Turkish-made Bayraktar drones wreaked havoc on Armenians, destroying hardware, notably Russian-made tanks, and inflicting casualties on large scale.
The limited military intervention did provide some political benefits. Turkey asserted its role as a top player in the South Caucasus. It overtook the West with US and France, members of the so-called Minsk Group managing Karabakh on behalf of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, appearing irrelevant.
In addition, the corridor through Armenian territory to the Azerbaijani Nakhichevan exclave agreed in Moscow sets a direct territorial bridge between Turkey and Azerbaijan proper. Political and commercial links between the two countries are set to flourish, which has been welcomed by much of the Turkish public.
Gains are partial nonetheless. Turkey was angling to gain influence in the South Caucasus. It envisioned a seat at the table negotiating a settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh, with Moscow, Baku and Yerevan and possibly a peacekeeping mission modelled on the Russian-Turkish joint patrols in Syria’s Idlib region. But this did not happen.
Turkey might obtain some symbolic role in peacekeeping, such as sending observers attached to the Russian force, but that will be Moscow’s call. Azerbaijan’s acceptance of Russia’s army is a setback for Ankara. Essentially, Ankara ventured on Russian turf and scored points. Turkey inserted itself into Russia’s presumed “near abroad”, just like Russia did back in 2015 by intervening in Syria. However, for the time being, at least, Moscow got the upper hand.
The case of Nagorno-Karabakh highlights the Russian-Turkish dynamic more broadly. The two states are partners as well as competitors across various theatres: in Syria, in Libya, the Southern Caucasus and the Black Sea, as well as the Western Balkans. They have learned their lesson and know how to manage their differences and focus on shared interests. Teaming up against the West helps keep a lid on mutual conflicts. But it is a complex balancing act for Putin and Erdogan.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
19:57,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian received a group of MPs from ‘’My step’’ block, led by the head of the faction Lilit Makunts.
As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the President’s Office, issues related to the situation in the country were discussed.
17:14,
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Leader of the Fatherland Party, former director of the National Security Service of Armenia Artur Vanetsyan has been charged for illegal possession of firearms, plotting assassination of a state, political or public official and attempting to seize power, his lawyer Lusine Sahakyan told reporters today.
She said that Vanetsyan denies the wrongdoing.
Earlier, the National Security Service of Armenia has announced that it has prevented an assassination of a government official, attempts to seize power by a group of people with prior consent, as well as revealed cases of illegal acquisition and possession of weapons, ammunition and explosives by a group of persons for this purpose.
In particular, a resident of Syunik province Ashot Minasyan, by using the fact of the presence of weapons in Artsakh during the recent war unleashed by Azerbaijan, has illegally transported and stored large amount of weapons, ammunition, explosives in one of his buildings in the town of Sisian after a preliminary consent with a group of people. This person, during and after the military operations launched on September 27, has agreed with a number of opposition party leaders, former politicians and their supporters to seize power through these illegally acquired weapons, in particular to assassinate the Prime Minister, as well as to usurp power, and also they have even discussed issues relating to a possible candidate for the next prime minister.
As a result, the resident of Syunik province and a group of opposition party leaders, former officials and their supporters have acquired measures and tools for conducting a deliberate crime, as well as have deliberately created other conditions for preparing to commit the assassination of a government official and usurping power, however, all their plans were revealed and prevented by the National Security Service.
A group of people, including the leader of the Fatherland party Artur Vanetsyan, former Member of Parliament Vahram Baghdasaryan, as well as commander of the Sisian volunteers squad Ashot Minasyan have been arrested in suspicion of being involved in the conspiracy. Investigative operations are being carried out to find the remaining members of the group and prevent and neutralize their criminal activity.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan