Author: Maral Chavushian

 19:53,

YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. Defense Minister of Armenia Vagharshak Harutyunyan received on June 11 the delegation led by head of the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Armenia Thierry Ribo.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Defense Ministry of Armenia, during the meeting the sides referred to the issues aimed at clarifying the fates of missing in action and hostages resulted by the Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh in September, 2020.

Vagharshak Harutyunyan expressed concerns over the fact that the Azerbaijani side up till now conceals the real number of POWs and civilian hostages and attempts to make this exclusively humanitarian issue a subject for political speculations. It was mentioned that this behavior is a gross violation of now only international laws, but also the trilateral declaration signed between the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan on November 9, 2020.

Vagharshak Harutyunyan thanked the head of the ICRC Armenia delegation for its efforts aimed at the protection of the rights of the Armenian citizens kept in Azerbaijan.

Thierry Ribo assured that the ICRC delegation carries out all necessary steps for acquiring information about the fates of the missing in action, as well as the POWs and civilian hostages.

 19:41, 27 May, 2021

YEREVAN, MAY 27, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministry of Lithuania is deeply concerned by the situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border. ARMENPRESS reports, citing the official website of the Foreign Ministry of Lithuania, the statement runs as follows,

''We are concerned by the reports on border clashes between the armed forces of the two countries, which put at risk the lives of bot servicemen and civilians. We call on both side to de-escalate the situation and withdraw forces. An agreement on demarcation and delimitation can be reached only through negotiations, but not by mobilizing troops at the border. We continue to attentively follow the situation. We think that steps for de-escalation will contribute to strengthening confidence between Armenia and Azerbaijan and a peaceful settlement of the conflict''.

 15:51, 20 May, 2021

YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian presidency says President Sarkissian is not involved in processes related to a new possible document.

“The president of the republic is not and hasn’t been involved in processes related to your mentioned document,” Sarkissian’s office told ARMENPRESS when asked about a new possible delimitation and demarcation document. “Therefore, [he] is totally unaware about the details of that document and discussions related to it. The president of the republic believes that such processes must be maximally public and with the involvement of all parties concerned.”

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 13:20,

YEREVAN, MAY 19, ARMENPRESS. A report-resolution over Turkey will be put up to voting in the European Parliament on May 19, according to which the EP reaffirms it calls for recognizing the Armenian Genocide. It also calls on Turkey to refrain from any anti-Armenian propaganda and hate speech and fully respect its commitments on preserving the Armenian culture, the Armenian Embassy in Belgium told Armenpress.

“On May 19, during the plenary session the European Parliament in its report relating to Turkey is reaffirming its calls for recognizing the Armenian Genocide. It also calls on Turkey to refrain from any anti-Armenian propaganda and hate speech and fully respect its commitments on protecting the Armenian culture. The report also makes several references to Turkey’s negative role in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict”, the Armenian Embassy said in a statement.

The report-resolution condemns the fact that Turkey, instead of stopping the hostilities and calling for resumption of peaceful negotiations under the OSCE Minsk Group, has unconditionally supported Azerbaijan’s military actions, contributed to their continuation, thus leading to the escalation of tension. It also condemns the transfer of foreign militants by Turkey from Syria and other sites to Nagorno Karabakh.

The resolution calls on the Turkish government to protect the rights of ethnic and religious minorities living in Turkey, including ethnic Armenian citizens and Christians, and to immediately adopt a comprehensive legislation that will ban discrimination.

The voting will take place today in the evening.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 14:29,

YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. The electronic voting for the early election of parliament of Armenia will kick off on June 11, at 08:00 Yerevan time.

According to the schedule released by the Central Electoral Commission, the e-voting will end on June 13, at 20:00.

Citizens of Armenia who are entitled to vote from abroad are diplomats and their family members, military servicemen stationed abroad and their family members, employees of representations of legal persons registered in Armenia and their family members.

The results of the electronic voting will be summed up and the protocol on the voting results will be published on the voting day, it means on June 20 after 20:00.

Armenia will hold snap parliamentary elections on June 20, 2021.

The pre-election campaign will launch on June 7 and will end on June 18.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenian FM, UN Secretary-General refer to humanitarian situation in Artsakh

 19:07,

YEREVAN, MAY 10, ARMENPRESS. Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara Ayvazian held a telephone conversation with UN Secretary-General António Guterres on May 10.

As ARMENPRESS was ifnormed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, the interlocutors highly appreciated the effective cooperation between Armenia and different UN specialised bodies.

The measures aimed at mitigating the humanitarian and social-economic situation in Artsakh resulted by the latest developments was one of the key topics of the conversation.

Referring to the works done by Armenia together with the specialised bodies of the UN during and after the war aimed at ensuring the uninterrupted entry of humanitarian aid to Artsakh, Ara Ayvazian noted that Azerbaijan continues its efforts to politicise the availability of humanitarian aid and disrupting the efforts of the international community.

Among the humanitarian issues needing an immediate solution, the acting FM emphasized the repatriation of the Armenian POWs and civilian hostages kept in Azerbaijan.

Ara Ayvazian and António Guterres also referred to the issue of protecting and preserving the Armenian historical-cultural and religious heritage in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone. Ara Ayvazian assessed inadmissible the Azerbaijani policy of banning the implementation of international expert mission in the places of cultural importance that are under risk.

The acting Foreign minister of Armenia highlighted the restoration of NK peace process in the sideline sof the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs' format.