Author: Mary Lazarian

 12:13, 27 August, 2020

YEREVAN, AUGUST 27, ARMENPRESS. The Cabinet approved the action plan on building a new village for the reconstruction of the unfinished Kaps Reservoir in Shirak Province. The village will be provided for the resettlement of residents whose homes are situated in areas which will be part of the reservoir.

The Kaps Reservoir is located in the Akhuryan flood-plain 22km north of the city of Gyumri. The first phase of construction involves building the reservoir with a capacity of 25,000,000 cubic meters, with possibility of further expansion up to 60,000,000 cubic meters.

“This will be the first time in the history of the Third Republic of Armenia when we are building a new village from scratch,” PM Nikol Pashinyan said, adding that the initiative is also significant in terms of specifying perceptions regarding a modern-day Armenian village.

The reservoir’s territory will comprise parts of the Aregnadem, Gtashen, Byurakn, Kaps and Jradzor villages.

Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

ArmInfo.  Gagik Tsarukyan's  Charitable Foundation donated 100 million drams to the families of  compatriots killed in the result of the bombings in Beirut. Press  secretary of Gagik Tsarukyan Iveta Tonoyan said this.

According to her, 50 million drams will be directed to provide  targeted assistance to the families of the killed Armenians, and 50  million drams – to restore Armenian Church of St. Gevorg in Beirut,  damaged in an explosion on 4 August.

To note, according to the Congregation of the Catholicosate of the  Great House of Cilicia, Vicar of the Kuwait Armenian Diocese,  Archimandrite Petros Manvelyan, as a result of the explosion in  Beirut, 11 Armenians were killed, several hundred representatives of  the Armenian community were injured or gone missing.

According to the Lebanese authorities, the explosion in the port of  Beirut on August 4 in the evening was caused by the detonation of 2.7  thousand tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse, which had  been confiscated by customs services in 2015. Mourning has been  declared in the country. In the city, recognized as a disaster zone,  a state of emergency was introduced for two weeks. According to the  latest data, the number of victims of the explosion exceeded 150  people, more than 4 thousand were injured, dozens of people were  missing.

 18:23, 5 August, 2020

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, ARMENPRESS. State of emergency will be prolonged by another month in Armenia, which will be the last prolongation, Deputy Prime Minister, Commandant Tigran Avinyan said in a briefing following the session at the Commandant's Office.

ARMENPRESS reports Avinyan emphasized that some of the restrictions will be eased. ''Particularly, the issue of entry of foreigners to Armenia, restrictions on exporting goods, holding rallies and public events will be reviewed'', he said.

State of emergency expires on August 12. It was declared on March 16 and was prolonged several times.

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan

 11:13, 31 July, 2020

YEREVAN, JULY 31, ARMENPRESS. 354 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been registered in Armenia in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 38,550, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention said today.

631 more patients have recovered. The total number of recoveries has reached 28,997.

10 people have died in one day, raising the death toll to 738.

The number of active cases stands at 8,587.

The number of people who had a coronavirus but died from other disease stands at 228 (3 new such cases).

So far, 163,736 people have passed COVID-19 testing.

Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 21:30,

YEREVAN, JULY 27, ARMENPRESS. Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia Anna Naghdalyan commented on the killing of an Armenian serviceman by an Azerbaijani sniper on July 17 and the announcement of Azerbaijan about holding large-scale military exercises together with Turkey. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, Naghdalyan said,

''On July 27, as a result of deliberate ceasefire violation by Azerbaijan, serviceman Ashot Mikayelyan was fatally wounded by the Azerbaijani sniper fire. We express our deepest condolences and solidarity to the family and friends.

It should be stressed that Azerbaijan resorted to this provocation few days after the statement issued by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, which particularly emphasized the importance of strictly adhering to the ceasefire and refraining from provocative actions in this period.

At the same time, Azerbaijan announced joint large-scale military exercises to be held with Turkey. All these demonstrate that the leadership of Azerbaijan, through its provocative actions, is undermining the efforts of the international mediators aimed at de-escalating the situation and resuming the peace process, thus bearing the responsibility for the consequences of further destabilization.

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan clearly presented the position of the Republic of Armenia on the current situation at the session of the Government held on July 23. Azerbaijan should publicly renounce the use of force, abandon its maximalist approaches, and take credible steps to strengthen the ceasefire, which will make possible the resumption and advancement of the peace process''.

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan

 12:18,

YEREVAN, JULY 25, ARMENPRESS. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stéphane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (PRCIO) Andrzej Kasprzyk released a statement over the recent clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Armenpress presents the text of the statement:

“The Co-Chairs and PRCIO welcome the relative stability along the Azerbaijan-Armenia border since 16 July. The Co-Chairs appeal to the sides to take advantage of the current reduction in active hostilities to prepare for serious substantive negotiations to find a comprehensive solution to the conflict. The Co-Chairs stress once more that refraining from provocative statements and actions, including threats or perceived threats to civilians or to critical infrastructure, is essential during this delicate period.

The Co-Chairs note that recent public statements criticizing the joint efforts of the co-chairing countries, and/or seeking unilaterally to establish new “conditions” or changes to the settlement process format are not conducive to resuming a constructive dialogue. The Co-Chairs reiterate that political will to achieve a lasting peaceful settlement is best demonstrated by refraining from maximalist positions, adhering strictly to the ceasefire, and abstaining from provocative statements and actions.

The Co-Chairs and PRCIO express appreciation for the strong engagement by leaders of international organizations including the United Nations, OSCE, and European Union, whose calls for strict adherence to the ceasefire and renewed dialogue under the auspices of the Co-Chairs have aligned with and supported the Co-Chairs’ own intensive mediation efforts. We note as especially positive the impartiality of such interventions, which have urged the sides to focus on reducing tensions rather than on assigning to others the sole responsibility of causing the recent escalation. The Co-Chairs welcome the growing international consensus calling for de-escalation and a swift return to negotiations in good faith without conditions.

The Co-Chairs reaffirm that the principles and elements as laid out in their statement of 9 March 2019 continue to form the basis of their mediation efforts. The Co-Chairs are prepared to meet with the leaders or their designees at any time. The Co-Chairs also emphasize that OSCE monitors should return to the region as soon as possible”.

 18:49,

YEREVAN, JULY 24, ARMENPRESS. Former MEP Frank Engel thinks that the Azerbaijani leadership initiated border escalations recently to divert the attention of its citizens from domestic problems. In an interview with ARMENPRESS Engel said that every time Azerbaijani leadership faces domestic problems, they focus the attention of their citizens on the ''Armenian threat'' by attacking either Armenia or Artsakh. Frank Engel also talked about the Azerbaijani threats to strike Armenia's nuclear power plant and Turkey's behavior in the context of the clashes.

-Mr. Engel, on July 12 Azerbaijan carried out aggression in the north-eastern section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. As a result of the clashes that lasted for a few days both sides suffered casualties. How would you comment on the recent days’ actions of Azerbaijan?

-It is sadly not the first time this happens, and one might assume it won’t be the last. It seems that every time something goes awry in Azerbaijan’s internal politics, the attention of the public is diverted to “the Armenian threat” by attacks on the territory of Artsakh or Armenia proper. After decades of rigorous indoctrination of the Azerbaijani public, after decades of school curricula that have brainwashed generations of young people there, it isn’t surprising that this has worked every time until now. The trouble is that the current authorities of Baku may have taken it a step too far this time, as evidenced by the demonstrations and violence of a delirious mob demanding that finally there be all-out war. You can’t play this game forever. Sonner or later, Aliev will become the victim of his own rhetoric. That will of course be an extremely dangerous development for Armenia.

-There have been different opinions about the goals of the actions of Azerbaijan. In your opinion what goal did the Azerbaijani leadership pursue and what task did they try to solve by provoking tension at the border?

-Their goal is to divert attention from internal problems. This time they also sacked the Foreign Minister in the process, I don’t know what is cooking in Azerbaijani power circles right now. But it seems clear to me that the public in Azerbaijan demands that after years of the country shining off internationally, they finally get their share in the riches of the country, which are so far strictly confiscated by the ruling elite. Azerbaijan is facing distribution struggles, and the public is asking itself why the “Armenian problem” is not finally solved, if that is what keeps them poor. They also do no longer accept the sacrifice of officers and soldiers every few months in gratuitous acts. But as I said, the danger is: they will demand more, they want a real war. Aliev doesn’t, that would utterly ruin his wealth and governance system.

-Apart from provoking border tensions, Azerbaijan kept Armenian civilian settlement under artillery fire for a few days which is well documented and the facts have been presented to the international community. How would you comment on the behavior of Azerbaijan of targeting civilians?

-The Baku authorities will not want to risk a death toll like four years ago, when their public was outraged at the massive casualties they suffered for nothing. And as they are allowed to deny their aggressive role internationally, with hardly anyone on the front stage of international politics finally calling them out as the eternal warmonger, they will always claim that the civilian targets were a sad consequence of Armenian attacks. But when a society has been indoctrinated into sheer hatred and bloodthirst for such a long time, they revel in images of helpless victims of their military might. It is sick, but that’s what the whole system of Azerbaijan is. Sick. Only a sick society would cheer at the images of dead Armenian villagers.

-Mr. Engel, the representative of the defense ministry of Azerbaijan threatened to strike Armenia’s nuclear power plant. How would you react to this announcement of Azerbaijan?

-They are obviously desperate for attention. No-one in their right mind would contemplate carrying out such an attack, Azerbaijan itself would suffer dramatic consequences, as would Turkey, and their lands become uninhabitable for centuries. But it also shows again a point I just made: Azerbaijan is a sick system and a sick society, they would no longer be restrained by the most elementary threads of human decency in their anti-Armenian madness. They urgently need to be sanctioned by the international community. But the good thing is: after Baku openly threatened a crime against humanity, every observer of the situation should now understand why Azerbaijan has refused international monitoring of the border between it and Armenia and Artsakh. It should be abundantly clear to everyone that Azerbaijan is the aggressor, has been the aggressor and will remain the aggressor.

-Turkey did not remain indifferent towards the tensions on Armenia-Azerbaijan border. The president, foreign and defense minsters of Turkey made statements in support of Azerbaijan. How would you comment on the behavior of Turkey during those days and what can be the reason for such a behavior by Turkey?

-Oh, Turkey is active on all the wrong fronts right now. With regard to Armenia, the Republic of Cyprus, Greece. Of course it will notionally stand by Azerbaijan no matter what happens, because its supposed patronage of that state is about the only patch of geopolitical relevance which Erdogan has left. Not to mention the total dependence on Azerbaijan for energy, as Turkey would no longer be able to afford anything else than Azerbaijani oil and gas which they get virtually for free. Azerbaijan sort of helps Turkey avoid bankruptcy after the totally erratic policies of Erdogan brought his country to the brink of economic collapse. But only as long as it stands in unconditional support of Baku. The funny thing is that in Azerbaijani-Turkish relations, it is really now Azerbaijan calling the shots.