14:12,
YEREVAN, JUNE 13, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani military units opened fire around 11:30-11:45 on June 13 at Armenian military positions in the section of Tretuk and Sotk, Gegharkunik Province.
The Azerbaijani forces used various caliber small arms in the shooting, as well as a mortar in the shelling of Sotk.
The Armenian side did not suffer casualties.
11:36,
YEREVAN, JUNE 13, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia plans to carry out 35 billion drams in subsidy in the agricultural sector this year, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said Tuesday.
“If we look at 2006-2010, the total support to agriculture was just 1 billion drams in four years,” Kerobyan told lawmakers in parliament. “We are now talking about 30 billion drams annually. I categorically disagree with the opinion claiming that the farmers are left on their own. Tens of thousands of farming businesses are using our programs. The agriculture in Armenia is now undergoing structural changes, the traditional agriculture is being replaced by high output agriculture,” Kerobyan said, adding that the changes will be seen in statistical figures some time later.
11:42,
YEREVAN, JUNE 12, ARMENPRESS. The government of Armenia has set up a task force to work on a Development Strategy for Gyumri, the second-largest city of the country.
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan will chair the working group, according to documents posted online at .
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1113026.html?fbclid=IwAR3o5ddeBEAR5KXA1DAW3syGc4rPgfDWKVyFeoWQYvAWwHc7F5HMDZKFN6g
Two new factors are putting farmers under pressure in Armenia: climate change and a fall in the competitiveness of the country’s agricultural exports due to the appreciation of the dram. The response to both of these has been a sharp increase in investments into new agricultural technologies, as outlined by Deputy Economy Minister Arman Khojoyan.
While both of these factors have negative effects on farmers, they have stimulated investment into robotics and smart agriculture technologies by farmers looking to increase productivity and make their products more competitive across a wider range of international markets.
“Integration of robotics and technology in the agriculture sector, often referred to as precision agriculture and smart farming, has great potential to revolutionise the industry by increasing productivity, efficiency and sustainability. Armenia, with its very significant share of agriculture in GDP, can benefit from this investment,” Khojoyan told the EBRD annual meeting and business forum in Samarkand in May.
"By leveraging robotics and automation, the tasks that were traditionally labour-intensive can easily become streamlined. Meanwhile the use of drones, sensors and data analytics can provide valuable insights on soil quality, crop health and yield predictably to enable farmers make data-driven decisions and optimise their production processes.”
Elaborating in an interview with bne IntelliNews on the sidelines of the event, Khojoyan said the government is supporting the process: “Armenian farmers are quite small, the lands are quite fragmented, so that is why efficiency is not that high in Armenia, and we are trying to increase that efficiency,”
According to the deputy minister, growth in agricultural output accelerated in 2022, though he warned that there are “different kinds of shocks which are negatively affecting the agricultural sector, and climate change is one of them. Our activity is to stabilise the sector, not to allow the sector to decline.”
On top of that, the agriculture sector in Armenia, like those around the world, is under pressure from climate change.
“One of the visible issues is the scarcity of water resources, and also the climate is changing and the vegetation is changing, so the traditional way of farming needs to be updated. This is also a new challenge for farmers [and they need] to have new information about all these changes and to apply it,” said Khojoyan.
Price pressure
At the same time, the Armenian dram has appreciated, driven up partly by the arrival of thousands of Russians fleeing mass mobilisation in their home country. This has eroded the competitiveness of Armenian exports, including food and agricultural products.
“In the recent period, the Armenian national currency is experiencing rapid appreciation. In my opinion this can be the exact moment when the producers can benefit from investing in acquiring new technologies. We all understand that appreciation of the national currency in the short term also poses some negative effects but investing in technology has many advantages,” said Khojoyan.
The Armenian government is intensively supporting farmers and producers to update their production capacities and apply frontier technologies. Khojoyan named some of the areas the government is supporting, such as setting up intensive orchards to diversify the fresh produce market, and introducing smart farming and innovative greenhouses. In the last two years the active portfolio of these government projects exceeds $600mn, the deputy minister said.
“This technological advancement will enhance efficiency leading to increased productivity … Companies can increase efficiency, optimise their costs, have quality products, diversify their markets and be competitive in local and international markets,” he told bne IntelliNews.
New tech sectors
According to Khojoyan, currently many of the new technologies being adopted by Armenian farmers are from international companies, but some are emerging within Armenia too, adding a new dimension to the country’s already thriving tech industry.
Asked about agritech companies within Armenia, Khojoyan said: “Yes, of course there are companies but these companies are quite small. We are currently creating an environment for these kind of companies to grow, joining efforts with the Ministry of High-Tech Industry, and also with the Agrarian University,” Khojoyan told bne IntelliNews.
“Arm being very prominent in the IT industry, it’s strange that it still doesn’t provide sufficient input in the agriculture sector. However there are companies founded by Armenians which are providing agricultural services in the US market, such as IntelinAir, which analyses data on crop growth and diseases.”
Khojoyan believes it is particularly important to involve young people in the agriculture sector in light of the challenges posed by climate change.
“This is a global problem: youth are not very interested in the agriculture sector, but it will be an important sector for the future because the population is growing and because of climate change natural resources are decreasing.
“In order to tackle these kinds of challenges, it’s important to combine technology and agriculture and make it attractive for the youth to come and innovate in the sector.”
Both Sweden and its neighbor Finland stated their intent to join NATO through its open-door policy in May last year, just weeks after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Finland was finally accepted in April of this year, doubling the alliance’s border with Russia, but Sweden’s accession is currently blocked.
It is generally accepted that Sweden’s armed forces are compatible with NATO. Sweden has a permanent delegation at NATO and is considered a close partner to the alliance, meaning joining should be relatively straightforward.
So why can’t Sweden join?
The problem is Turkey – a strategically important NATO member due to its geographical location in both the Middle East and Europe, and the alliance’s second-largest military power – which is blocking Sweden’s accession for a number of reasons.
Most importantly, that nation claims that Sweden allows members of recognized Kurdish terror groups to operate in Sweden, most notably the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Sweden changed its terrorism laws earlier this year, making it a crime to be part of these groups, though it’s still unclear if this is enough for Ankara.
Turkey also claims that the Swedish government has been complicit in far-right protests where people burned copies of the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. Most recently, Turkey has said it wants Sweden to act after Swedish lawmakers projected the flag of the PKK onto the parliament building in Stockholm in protest at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s re-election on Sunday. A spokesperson for the Swedish parliament acknowledged that people had projected images onto the side of the building, but had no specific evidence about what was projected or who was responsible, according to Reuters.
Finally, there are concerns at how willing Erdogan is to describe himself as a friend of Putin’s. Shortly before he was re-elected, he told CNN that he and Putin share a “special relationship.”
NATO officials and people within the Swedish government are now becoming concerned that missing the July 11 deadline – the date of its next official summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius – would send a dangerous message to the alliance’s adversaries. These include Russia, and although nowhere near the North Atlantic, North Korea and China.
“If it’s missed, it tells people like Putin that there is a weak link in the Western alliance. It gives them time and space to cause trouble,” one NATO diplomat told CNN. “That could be anything from cyber attacks to funding and encouraging more Quran burnings to cause division in Sweden.”
An Eastern European diplomat told CNN that as well as “emboldening the enemies” of NATO, any delay risks “giving the the sense of Erdogan’s power over the alliance.” The diplomat added that “Erdogan will use the moment to squeeze every drop from this situation and will throw the ball to Sweden – making them hostage of their (own) anti-terrorist laws.”
Officials from most NATO states are optimistic that a deal can be done before July, but are aware it could come with a price attached.
Multiple officials point to the way that Erdogan struck a deal with the European Union that saw it hand Turkey 6 billion euros ($6.4 billion) among other perks in exchange for Turkey hosting Syrian refugees who were en route to Europe. Erdogan, European officials have repeatedly said, knew that he had Brussels over a barrel as he could effectively “flood” Europe with refugees at will.
What could NATO allies give Erdogan that might get him to change his mind over Sweden?
For starters, Turkey wants the US Congress to approve its purchase of US-made F-16 fighter jets. While US officials are reluctant to tie the Sweden issue and F-16s overtly, officials say that behind the scenes there is an obvious deal to be done.
Diplomats are also well aware that Turkey’s economy is in dire straits, with soaring inflation and a collapse in the value of its currency against the dollar, and that both the US and EU currently have sanctions imposed on the country.
While there is room for a deal to be done – and the allies in favor of Sweden joining do have leverage – there are a couple of issues that could see July 11 come and go without NATO getting it wants.
The first is Erdogan’s unpredictability. Sunday’s election was the closest he has come to losing power in 20 years, which allies fear means he might double down on Sweden when it comes to its anti-terror policy.
Sweden is unlikely to introduce anything that looks as authoritarian as Erdogan would probably like to see in place, especially when it comes to the Kurds; at this point the only resolution could be that Erdogan claims the changes Sweden has already made to its terror laws as a personal victory and moves on.
The second is that Turkey isn’t the only fly in the ointment: Hungary also objects to Sweden joining NATO.
These two issues at some level interact with one another: if Erdogan were to accept Sweden’s anti-terror laws as sufficient – only for Hungary to block the whole thing risks making him look weak by comparison, European officials fear.
For their part, the pro-Sweden allies – including the United States and United Kingdom, arguably the two most influential NATO members – are doubling down on July 11 and privately offering Sweden assurances that it is their priority, no matter what Turkey does.
Sweden joining NATO would be the latest in a long list of good news stories for the alliance since Russia invaded Ukraine. Officials have been surprised at the level of unity in the alliance since the war began and have been delighted at renewed pledges on defense spending and strengthening the alliance.
Russia launched its war in the first place partly due to NATO’s expansion, a move that shows no sign of slowing, with Ukraine now also wanting to join the alliance. Even the Japanese are shifting towards NATO, with the country’s foreign minister telling CNN earlier this month that it is in talks to open the first NATO liaison office in Asia.
For all the talk of NATO facing what French President Emmanuel Macron called “brain death” not so long ago, it’s undeniable that the alliance has a renewed sense of purpose and is confident about its future. That’s precisely why officials are so concerned about Turkey vetoing Sweden’s accession on NATO’s own timetable.
Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, an alliance is only as united as its latest act of unity. In the modern world of diplomacy, signals and subtext matter a huge amount. And while it might seem insignificant exactly when Sweden does or does not join NATO, Turkey giving the alliance’s enemies the faintest whiff that members can be picked off would, officials believe, upend months of good work that have brought the alliance closer together than at any other time in recent memory.
Surveying the scene on a rainy day in Berlin, the Protestant gunman recognized his target. Living hidden under an assumed name in the Weimar Republic, the once-famous official exited his apartment, was shot in the neck, and fell in a pool of blood.
For many, the 1921 killing vindicated the blood of thousands.
Neither were Germans. Both would eventually be immortalized.
But the cloak-and-dagger story took another twist when a Berlin court ruled the assassin “not guilty.” The trial captivated the local press, brought a nation’s tragedy to the public eye, and set off a philosophical chain of events that eventually coined a new term and established an international convention meant to render unnecessary any similar future acts.
It was already too late.
Two decades after the trial, the Nazis murdered six million Jews. Hitler, preparing the Holocaust, is said to have justified it in reference to the already forgotten history of 1.5 million people killed by Germany’s then-ally in the fallout from World War I.
The gunman, Soghomon Tehlirian, was an Armenian. The official, Mehmed Talaat, was an Ottoman Turk. And the term created by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin—genocide—continues to haunt the world today.
But the chain of events has not concluded.
Nazi Germany, seeking Axis partners in World War II, repatriated Talaat’s remains to Turkey in 1943, where dozens of memorials and streets are named in his honor. Once the grand vizier of the Ottoman sultan, he is celebrated today as one of the leading “Young Turks” who forged the creation of the modern-day secular nationalist republic.
The descendants of his victims, scattered around the world, consider Talaat—known commonly as Talaat Pasha with his honorific title—the architect of the Armenian Genocide.
Tehlirian, who in prison pending trial was given a Bible by a local Protestant pastor, eventually settled in the United States. He is buried in Fresno, California, where his obelisk-shaped grave marker is adorned with a gold-plated eagle, slaying a snake.
And last month, more than a century after the trial, the city council of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, erected a memorial to honor 16 heroes of Operation Nemesis. Conducted between 1920–22, the campaign secretly authorized by the ruling party of the newly independent nation assassinated eight Turkish and Azerbaijani officials.
It was named after the Greek goddess of divine retribution.
Incorporating a fountain of flowing water, the memorial’s towering structure was built based on a petition from the Descendants of the Avengers of the Armenian Genocide. Tehlirian is at the center, beneath an empty space in the shape of a cross, directing one’s gaze upward to heaven.
Does heaven approve—now or then?
“If I was at the planning meeting, I couldn’t do it because of my faith,” said Craig Simonian, an Armenian pastor. “But people reap what they sow.”
Also the Caucasus Region coordinator for the World Evangelical Alliance’s (WEA) Peace and Reconciliation Network, Simonian said he would struggle with calling the operation morally wrong. The sultan whom Talaat served was a “butcher,” he said, and the pastor’s own relatives were driven from the region of Diyarbakir.
“You can’t understand how it feels that so many of those guys got away with it,” Simonian said. “But even so, ‘Thou shalt not murder’ does not come with 30 footnotes.”
Tehlirian exempted himself from the label.
“I do not consider myself guilty because my conscience is clear,” he said to the court a century ago. “I have killed a man. But I am not a murderer.”
Instructed not to flee the scene, Armenian plotters desired the trial and turned it into a referendum on the genocide. The defense strategy portrayed Tehlirian as traumatized by loss, and called witnesses to describe the rape, killing, and death marches suffered at the direct order of Talaat and others.
The court was convinced, as Khatchig Mouradian is today.
“As there was no international legal framework to hold them accountable, the survivors took justice into their own hands,” said the Columbia University historian. “Lemkin felt that Tehlirian ‘upheld the moral order of mankind,’ so I’ll side with him on this one.”
In the chaotic aftermath of World War I, new Ottoman leadership brought 63 court-martial cases against 200 officials, handing out 16 death penalties—most in absentia. Talaat and others were found guilty, but escaped. Others were captured by the British, but were traded for compatriot prisoners. And when Young Turk sympathizers returned the movement to power, the local judicial process was abandoned.
But it gave birth to the global cause.
That “fateful encounter on the streets of Berlin,” said Mouradian, led directly to the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention. But though Operation Nemesis—which in Greek means “to give what is due”—commands the widespread respect of the Armenian people, the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox church was a bit uncomfortable. Tehlirian approached the Constantinople patriarch for funds, but only received a blessing.
“I cannot take part in such endeavors, my son,” said Zaven Der Yeghiayan, as recounted in the assassin’s memoirs.
The church today is similar.
“From the point of view of Christian ethics, any murder is considered a sin,” said Shahe Ananyan, dean of Armenia’s Gavorkian theological seminary, relating the official church position on the operation. “But it should also be seen in the context of resistance and self-protection.”
Calling the Ottoman plans “demonic,” the Apostolic priest said that Armenian efforts to defend their people—even when using violence—qualified as legitimate just-war measures to protect the innocent. But in contrasting this with Turkish denial and the contemporary movement to honor the Young Turks, Ananyan fears the rise of new “genocidal tendencies.”
In protest to the new monument, Turkey closed its airspace to Armenia.
But Operation Nemesis, said Ananyan, is similar to Jewish acts of revenge against the Nazis, and simply reflected a longing for the restoration of justice.
One contemporary Turk agrees.
“Unfinished justice pushes individuals to take justice into their own hands—this is the testimony of history,” said Taner Akcam, author of Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide. “Alongside revenge, the cry for justice runs very deep in the human species.”
A third instinct—recognition of suffering—is reflected in Yerevan’s monument.
Widely recognized as one of the first Turkish scholars to study this period, Akcam directs the Armenian Genocide Research Program at UCLA. But even more valuable than the Tehlirian court proceedings, he said, would be the evidence collected by the Ottoman military tribunals—including hundreds of telegrams and the testimonies of bureaucrats.
Today, he said, Turkey buries it.
While the official archives are open, Akcam said that when asking about the “Special Operation” which oversaw the deportation of Armenians, “no one knows” where the records are.
And when the government decided in 2006 to open the deed office to researchers, national security quickly shut it down. It would have revealed the pre-genocide property ownership of thousands of Armenians. In 1926, the government assigned such property to the relatives of Talaat and other assassinated officials.
“Without an honest accounting of history,” Akcam said, “Turkey isolates itself more and more from the civilized world.”
The scholar, however, is not the only Turk unsettled in spirit. When Simonian visited a mosque in Adana on Turkey’s southeastern Mediterranean coastline, local guides told him it was built with the gold seized from deported Armenians.
And later when interacting with a young Turkish woman who thought he was a simple tourist, Simonian told her his visit was a pilgrimage to discover the land of his forefathers. Startled, she tearfully replied: I don’t know how our grandparents did this, to yours.
She accepted his prayers, then told him that God had removed a great weight.
“Our ancestors bring us either blessing or curse,” Simonian said. “But it is hard to go deeper into the past, when we have real issues to discuss right now.”
Among them is the ongoing blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The mountainous Caucasus enclave is home to over 100,000 ethnic Armenians, who call their historic homeland Artsakh. But the international community recognizes the land as Azerbaijani territory—recaptured from independence-seeking Armenian control in 2020 after a 44-day war. Only one road connects it to Armenia, and since December Azerbaijani activists have sealed off the area from all but humanitarian deliveries, ignoring an International Court of Justice ruling.
Like Turkey, Baku leaders have denounced the memorial.
Azerbaijan insists upon Armenian recognition of its sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh. Last week, Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan signaled readiness to accept, if local rights are guaranteed. Many Armenians, however, dismiss Azerbaijani statements about accepting Armenians as citizens, and focus instead on Baku’s expanding territorial claims that reach even to Yerevan.
But peace is needed also toward Armenia’s west.
On-and-off again negotiations resumed following Yerevan’s delivery of humanitarian aid to victims of the earthquake in Turkey, and appeared to be making progress. But with the closure of airspace, Turkish officials said further retaliatory measures would be taken if Armenia did not remove the monument.
The speaker of Armenia’s parliament said it was not meant as an “unfriendly act,” and did not represent official foreign policy. Pashinyan called installation of the memorial a “wrong decision” taken by the local council, not the national government.
“But by being always guided by the logic of … not being called traitors,” the prime minister stated, “we actually keep betraying the state and national interests of our country.”
Vazgen Zohrabyan agrees, beyond his training as a political analyst.
“Anything that suggests revenge worries me as a pastor,” said the leader of Abovyan City Church, northeast of Yerevan. “Such approaches will not bring any benefit in terms of the reconciliation of nations, or the reconciliation of peoples.”
Proud of Nemesis as an operation, Zohrabyan said that Tehlirian is a symbol of justice and that Protestants have always been active in the national cause. He cited the 1915 defense of Musa Dagh as an example, with significant leadership provided by evangelical pastors. And the retribution against Ottoman officials addressed the deep wound caused by the Armenian people’s uprooting from a historic homeland.
Artyom Yerkanyan has similar reflections.
His father, Aram, is enshrined on the monument for the assassination of an Azerbaijani official responsible for the killing of 30,000 Armenians in Baku.
“Can you imagine what would have happened if Operation Nemesis hadn’t happened? We would be a sick nation, suffering from psychological complications,” he stated at the public ceremony.
“I often compare them to psychiatrists. They made us feel worthy.”
But the unfortunate result today, said Zohrabyan, is that the memorial serves to cement animosity. It is understandable, as hostile rhetoric has increased from Azerbaijan, backed by the historic Turkish enemy. The task, however, is to work with both neighbors toward peace—and avoid needless antagonism.
“We are obliged to take steps so that the Turks consciously apologize for what was done,” said Zohrabyan, “and that the Armenians can find the strength to forgive.”
Such ruminations about the memorial, said Eric Hacopian, an Armenian political analyst, put the pastor in a distinct minority. Few ordinary citizens even noticed its installation, let alone felt a moral dilemma.
“The whole issue is a nothingburger,” he said, with national sentiment worried about cross-border attacks and a possible new genocide in Artsakh. “I don’t expect much soul searching about it.”
Should Americans, he asked, be disturbed by the killing of Osama bin Laden? And while there is little popular sentiment aligned with the Yerevan government about the timing of the monument, almost no one in Armenia would oppose it in principle.
Neither does Simonian.
Unlike Zohrabyan, he does not equate the memorial with commemorating vengeance, which is prohibited to the believer. Instead, like statues in America of slaveholding national heroes, it reflects the reality of history and prompts further conversation.
Yet despite his WEA mandate, amid Turkish “hypocrisy” he believes there is little reconciliation on the horizon.
“You can’t reconcile with someone who is still hurting you,” Simonian said. “What the monument says is that we need this to end.”
As for Operation Nemesis itself, it forced the world to recognize the genocide. He hopes the current controversy will bring attention to the crisis in Artsakh. But while the recognition of missing justice can be a salve to a suffering people, no one should think—as he once felt himself—that they got away with it.
And this truth, more than any memorial, facilitates genunine healing.
“Nothing Tehlirian did can compare with God’s justice on an unrepentant heart,” said Simonian. “This truth allows us to forgive, if we can submit our desire for revenge to the sovereignty of God.”
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/may/armenian-genocide-operation-nemesis-monument-yerevan-talaat.html
[see video]
Asbarez Editor Ara Khachatourian interviewed Glendale Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Vivian Ekchian and the district’s Director of Teaching and Learning, Lena Kortoshian.
The two school officials detailed the achievements by the district that include year-to-year increase in students graduating, as well as an uptick in math and English language proficiency.
Dr. Ekchian presented a comprehensive overview of the student demographics, highlighting that of the 59.3 percent of students who identify as White, 68.7 percent are Armenian. She also delineated the myriad programs the school system offers to ensure the wellness and safety of students.
The school officials emphasized that GUSD is a safe and inclusive environment, where students – regardless of their backgrounds – are afforded the same level attention and access for every child to learn and thrive.
Dr. Ekchian encouraged involvement by the parents, as they are an integral and welcome part of the school community. She, however, stressed that there are curriculum guidelines and standards set by the State of California that every school district must follow, adding that GUSD has made strides to include parents in an effort to effectively ensure the highest standards of learning.
A special PowerPoint presentation was featured during the interview that Asbarez is sharing below.
The Glendale Unified School District has been continuously ranks as one of the top school districts in the State of California.
Confirms plan to expand via GNC-Alfa subsidiary
Russian telco Rostelecom is planning to a new data center in Armenia.
The Tass news agency reports Rostelecom’s Armenian subsidiary GNC-Alfa plans to launch a 200-rack facility in Armenia in early 2024. Neither location nor power capacity were shared.
"We continue to actively develop in Armenia, where we have a subsidiary and a data center is currently being built. This will be the first large data center created according to the most stringent requirements in the country, there is a lot of interest from government agencies. At the beginning of next year, 200 racks with the possibility of a rapid increase in capacity should already be launched," said Mikhail Oseevsky, president of Rostelecom.
News that Rostelecom was considering a facility in Armenia surfaced last year. The news was an about-face for Rostelecom, which was reportedly looking to sell its Armenian unit in 2021. The company confirmed in March 2023 it had dropped the sale plans.
“There is no issue of selling it anymore, we have decided to develop it actively," said Oseevsky said at the time.
CJSC GNC-Alfa, a subsidiary company of Rostelecom in Armenia, provides Internet access, fixed telephony, IP TV, and other services in the country. The company's 2,500km fiber optic network covers 80 percent of the country's territory.
Founded in 2007, Rostelecom acquired a majority stake in the company in 2012.
13:22,
YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenia provided a total of 176 billion drams in loans to Nagorno Karabakh in 2022, Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan told lawmakers at a joint committee session for preliminary debates of the 2022 government budget report.
He said the figure was higher than planned and is an unprecedented volume of support.
The 2022 budget was executed with a 179,5 billion dram deficit, instead of the projected 22,9 billion.
Speaking about the deficit, Hovhannisyan said that the bond issuance plan was conducted in full at 252 billion drams. 165 billion drams in loans were received from international organizations.
“We’ve carried out approximately 100 billion dram in repayment. And the loan given to Artsakh comprised 176 billion drams, which was more than planned, such volume of support was never given to Nagorno Karabakh. As a result we have state debt, which stood at 4 trillion 186 billion drams as of December 31, in dollars it stands at 10 billion 637 million dollars,” Hovhannisyan said.
15:16,
YEREVAN, MAY 26, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Vahe Gevorgyan held a meeting on May 24 with UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Wairimu Nderitu in New York City.
Gevorgyan presented the worsening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno Karabakh resulting from the illegal blockade of Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan, emphasizing that these Armenophobia-fuelled illegal actions attest to Azerbaijan’s policy of ethnic cleansing against the people of Nagorno Karabakh, the foreign ministry said in a readout.
Azerbaijan’s ongoing gross violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination over many decades and the importance of the implementation of the ICJ February 22 ruling were discussed.
Vahe Gevorgyan attached importance to the close cooperation between Armenia and the office of the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide as part of the UN Prevention Agenda, emphasizing the need for the Special Adviser’s active involvement for launching UN mechanisms for prevention of genocide and other mass crimes.
Lachin Corridor – the only road linking Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of the world – has been blocked by Azerbaijan since 12 December 2022. The United Nations’ highest court – the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – ordered Azerbaijan on 22 February 2023 to “take all steps at its disposal” to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. Azerbaijan has so far ignored the order.