Meline Chalian – Page 34 – Armenian Directory & News

Covid-19 vaccination begins in Armenia

April 14, 2021April 14, 2021 Meline Chalian

JAM News

JAMnews, Yerevan

Vaccination against coronavirus infection has begun in Armenia. Starting from April 13, residents of Yerevan will be able to get vaccinated and from April 14 vaccination will become available in the regions. Now the country is distributing vaccines to clinics, announced Health Minister of Armenia Anahit Avanesyan.

Anahit Avanesyan said that everyone who wants to get vaccinated will be provided with full information about the AstraZeneca and Sputnik vaccines that are currently available in the country, and each individual recipient will be able to choose between the two.

However, the minister of health of Armenia noted that on April 13th, the vaccination will be carried out using AstraZeneca, as it arrived earlier than Sputnik V, which, in turn, will also be available a few days after the launching of the vaccination program.

24,000 doses of the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine and 15,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V have already been delivered to Armenia.

Previously, only high-risk health workers – those who treat to patients infected with COVID-19 were eligible for vaccination. Thus, Russia provided Armenia with 2,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine enough for the vaccination of 1,000 people free of charge.

Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin said on April 12 that the supply of the Russian vaccine to Armenia will continue.

The first confirmed case of coronavirus infection in Armenia was registered on March 1, 2020. Between March 16 to September 11, 2020 the country declared a state of emergency. A nationwide quarantine has also been introduced, and it is expected to last until July 11, 2021. Over the last 24 hours, 510 new cases of COVID-19 have been registered. In total, there are now 203,327 people infected with COVID-19 in the country, 182, 836 recovered and 3,753 died.

To Sputnik V or to AstraZeneca? Armenia gets new batches of Covid vaccines amidst public skepticism
Armenia: disinformation spreading faster than the epidemic

The Armenian Ministry of Health is planning to vaccinate 700,000 thousand people, and the priority is given to the high-risk groups. However, vaccination in Armenia is voluntary, and so far only 600 people have registered to get vaccinated.

The issue of vaccination remains highly relevant in Armenia as the country is struggling to counter the spread of COVID-19, says Armenian Minister of Health, Anahit Avanesyan:

“For many patients, the disease is very severe. […] Vaccination will be carried out, firstly, on applications from high-risk groups, and the medical personnel of the country;s clinics will be asked to inform individuals of their eligibility for vaccination. If there are more registered citizens than vaccine doses, the registration will continue, and as new supplies are received, the vaccination will continue for a year”.

The special working group of the Ministry of Health has already decided that AstraZeneca will be administered to people aged over 55 years old while Sputnik V will be administered to those under 54 years old.

On April 8, the first purchased batch of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine was delivered to Armenia.

On March 28, 24,000 doses of the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine were also delivered to Yerevan.

At the moment, AstraZeneca is one of the most popular COVID-19 vaccines in the world, and it has already been admitted in 49 countries. Sputnik V is the second most popular vaccine, approved in 45 countries.

Armenia continues negotiations on obtaining vaccines via the COVAX platform – an international platform that aims to make vaccines available in low- and middle-income countries. Armenia received doses of AstraZeneca under this program, and it is now negotiating the purchase of a batch of the American Novavax vaccine.

In addition, the Armenian minister of health said that there is a preliminary agreement with the Chinese government for the donor supply of a batch of Sinovac vaccine.

“There will be a variety of vaccine alternatives”, Minister of Health, Anahit Avanesyan reassures the public.

Earlier, the head of the Center for Disease Control of China Gao Fu said that the coronavirus vaccines developed in China demonstrated low efficiency. During clinical trials in Brazil, it was established that the effectiveness of the vaccine produced by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech Ltd. only reached 50.4%.

In comparison, the Russian and Western vaccines demonstrated an effectiveness rate exceeding 90%.

Armenia restricts use of AstraZeneca vaccine to over 55s

April 13, 2021April 13, 2021 Meline Chalian

12:45,

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine should only be given to people over the age of 55, the Armenian health authorities decided.

Healthcare Minister Anahit Avanesyan said the age limit is set for “extra safety and precaution”.

“We’ve scrutinized consultations issued by specialized organizations and decided that we will also set an age limit for AstraZeneca vaccinations, the shot will be given only to people over the age of 55,” she said.

At-risk people will be prioritized under the following categories: people over the age of 65, health workers over the age of 55, people with chronic health conditions over the age of 55 and nursery workers and residents over 55.

“Because the Sputnik V vaccine batch we have is limited, we’ve set the guidelines for its use as follows – health worker aged 18 to 54, people with chronic health conditions below 54, and nursing home workers and residents below 55,” she added.

Avanesyan says the guidelines will be revised and the over-65 group will be added if more Sputnik V doses are supplied.

24000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were supplied to Armenia through COVAX Facility. Then, the first batch of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine comprising 15000 doses was also imported.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

European Parliament to host special discussion on Armenian POWs

April 11, 2021April 11, 2021 Meline Chalian

Public Radio of Armenia

ON April 12 the European parliament will host a special discussion on the issue of immediate release and return of Armenian captives from Azerbaijan.

The discussion has been initiated by Member of the European parliament Loukas Fourlas, Chair of the EU-Armenia friendship group at the European Parliament.

“Honored to host this event. The issue of the Armenian captives and prisoners of war in Azerbaijan remains one of the most urgent and crucial humanitarian issues and should concern us all,” Mr. Fourlas said in a Twitter post.

Honored to host this event.The issue of the Armenian captives and prisoners of war in Azerbaijan remains one of the most urgent and crucial humanitarian issues and should concern us all. @EPPGroup @EP_CYPRUS @eafjd @EP_ForeignAff @Parlimag #Armenia pic.twitter.com/0sCd5EbhSY

— Loucas Fourlas, MEP (@loucas_fourlas)

Amsterdam: Jacob, 13, faces deportation to Armenia, where he has never been

April 10, 2021April 10, 2021 Meline Chalian

Dutch News, The Netherlands

April 8 2021

Society <img src=”"https://www.dutchnews.nl/wpcms/wp-content/themes/dutchnewsv6/img/social/social-icon-rss.svg"> April 8, 2021

Jacob (left) with school friends in the petition photo. Photo: Manon Veldhuis

More than 150,000 people have signed a petition calling on the justice ministry to rethink a decision to deport a 13-year-old boy to Armenia, even though he is a Syrian Christian and has never been in the country.

Jacob and his mother have lost their right to stay in the Netherlands because the immigration service IND has decided they can settle in Armenia with the help of distant relatives.

The problem has arisen because mother Tina got Armenian passports for herself and her son, so they could get a visa to travel to Europe, rather than escape war-torn Damascus with the help of people smugglers.

The final straw had come when Jacob was injured in a bomb blast which killed one of his friends, De Groene Amsterdammer reported.

However, stories about a visa for Armenians proved to be false and Tina, who was 26 at the time, and Jacob, who was eight, made the journey to Europe in a small boat over the Mediterranean Sea. But because Armenia is classed as a safe third country, she and Jacob have now been repeatedly refused the right to stay in the Netherlands.

Jacob, who is in his first year of secondary school, and Tina now face deportation to Armenia, a country where he has never been and which she visited for just four days.

MPs have asked junior justice minister Ankie Broekers-Knol a string of questions about the case, including if she is willing to try and ensure they do get a residency permit after all.

Changes to the rules for giving well-rooted refugee children residency rights mean that the minister no longer has the right of discretion in difficult cases.

Tina’s mother, grandmother and brother were all granted asylum in the Netherlands, RTL Nieuws reported.

Russian State Duma Chairman to meet with Armenia’s Speaker of Parliament and Uzbekistan’s Senate Chair

April 10, 2021April 10, 2021 Meline Chalian

Russian State Duma Chairman to meet with Armenia's Speaker of Parliament and Uzbekistan's Senate Chair

13:27, 9 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 9, ARMENPRESS. Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Viacheslav Volodin will meet with the delegations led by the Speakers of Parliament of Armenia and Uzbekistan next week.

“International meetings are planned for next week. The delegations of the parliaments of Armenia and Uzbekistan led by the Speakers will visit the State Duma”, Mr. Volodin told reporters today. “During the meetings with Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan and Speaker of the Senate of Uzbekistan Tanzila Norbaeva we will continue the dialogue over the development of inter-parliamentary relations”, he added.

The State Duma press service reported that the meeting with Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan is scheduled on April 13.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Newspaper: Armenia PM instructs to assemble "dossiers" against teammates who will be left out of their electoral list

April 4, 2021April 4, 2021 Meline Chalian

News.am, Armenia

April 3 2021

09:29, 03.04.2021

YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: Along with compiling the electoral list [for the upcoming snap parliamentary elections], [PM] Nikol Pashinyan, according to some information, has instructed [his chief of staff] Arsen Torosyan and [Deputy PM] Tigran Avinyan to assemble dossiers—through law enforcement agencies—on all the [ruling] My Step [bloc] members who are going to be left out of the list. And their number will be incomparably large.

We were told that there already are "thick files" on some [My Step] MPs; for example, of suspicious episodes in the process of acquiring property.

The meaning of this process is that no one [in the My Step] would even think about rebelling against Pashinyan and not working in the elections.

Ranked voting method to be abolished as Parliament approves amendments bill at first hearing

April 2, 2021April 2, 2021 Meline Chalian

13:45, 1 April, 2021

YEREVAN, APRIL 1, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Parliament approved at the first hearing the bill on making amendments and changes to the Electoral Code which propose to abolish the ranked voting method ahead of the upcoming snap elections and hold the polls with a simple proportional electoral system.

83 MPs voted in favor of the bill.

Thus, the bill proposes to abolish the preferential voting method, as well as sets certain regulations for the holding of elections during the pandemic.

The opposition Bright Armenia faction was opposing the bill. Faction head Edmon Marukyan made remarks, noting: “I officially announce now that if the rules of the game change, the legitimacy of the parliamentary elections is questioned”.

The ruling bloc assured that this change is just simplifying the process of the elections, however, this doesn’t mean refusal from the Electoral Code package.

Earlier this year the leadership has submitted a new Electoral Code package, which envisages a number of amendments, for getting an opinion from the Venice Commission.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Russian MFA: Moscow supports caring attitude towards cultural and religious objects in Nagorno-Karabakh

April 2, 2021April 2, 2021 Meline Chalian

News.am, Armenia

April 1 2021

18:36, 01.04.2021

Moscow supports a caring attitude towards cultural and religious objects in Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions, and this is Moscow’s principled stance. This is what Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova said during today’s press conference.

“Russia reaffirms the importance of organizing the UNESCO’s mission to the region quickly and is in contact with the sides in regard to each specific case,” she said.

On March 25, 2021, BBC News reported the destruction of an Armenian church in Jrakan (Jebrayil) by Azerbaijani soldiers. There weren’t even ruins of the church. The destruction of the Green Hour Armenian church in Shushi (occupied by the Azerbaijanis) was reported earlier.

Asbarez: Yerevan Deplores Baku’s ‘Justification’ for Destroying Church

March 28, 2021March 28, 2021 Meline Chalian

The Zoravor Surp Astvatsatsin Church in Mekhakavan was completely destroyed by Azerbaijan

Official Baku on Friday justified Azerbaijan’s complete destruction of a church in Artsakh’s occupied Mekhakavan by claiming that the church was “illegally” built during what it called Armenia’s “nearly 30 years of occupation” of the area.

Armenia’s foreign ministry was quick to blast Baku, saying “any attempt by Azerbaijan to justify the barbaric destruction of a place worship is concerning and deplorable.”

On Thursday, Jonah Fisher, a BBC reporter, posted a segment proving that Azerbaijan demolished the Zoravor Surp Astvatsatsin (St. Mary’s) Church in Mekhakavan (formerly Jebrail) after the area was surrendered to Baku as a condition to the November 9 agreement.

In its statement, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry indirectly blamed the OSCE, claiming that the international body, whose Minsk Group co-chairs are tasked with mediating a settlement to the Karabakh conflict, essentially did not take action when Baku addressed the matter.

“In 2017, following the Republic of Azerbaijan’s appeals to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Co-Chairs from the OSCE Minsk Group agreed to visit the chapel in Jebrail. The Republic of Azerbaijan raised grave concerns that the Armenian forces were altering the demographic, cultural and physical character of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” said Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry. “Following their visit, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs concluded that the chapel had been built as part of a military compound in Jebrail for use by Armenian soldiers.”

“The chapel cannot be considered a part of Jebrail’s cultural history when its construction, reportedly only five years ago, solely served the occupying forces of Armenia,” official Baku added.

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan on Friday said that through its statement Baku was acknowledging the “deliberate, pre-planned and complete” destruction of the church, proving that Azerbaijani authorities were fully aware of the plan.

“Once again we emphasize that the international community, and first of all the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and Co-Chair countries, as well as UNESCO must immediately intervene to preserve Armenian historical-cultural heritage,” said Naghdalyan.

“It is worth noting,” she said, “that at the same time the Azerbaijani side is keeping dead silent over the accusations and facts on the destruction of the more than 200-years-old Church of St. Hovhannes Mkrtich (Kanach Zham) in Shushi, Republic of Artsakh, probably unable to find any ‘justification’ for this barbarism, even an imaginary one.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 03/21/2021

March 23, 2021March 23, 2021 Meline Chalian

                                        Sunday, 

Sarkisian Hits Back At Pashinian Over Remarks On Karabakh Talks


Former Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian (archive photo)

Former Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has called Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s account of the history of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process that 
puts the blame for its failure on the previous government as an outright lie.

In a statement released by his office Sarkisian responded to accusations made by 
Pashinian during a public rally on a visit to the western Aragatsotn province on 
Saturday.

Addressing scores of supporters in the village of Nerkin Bazmaberd Pashinian, in 
particular, charged that Sarkisian had driven the negotiations with Azerbaijan 
on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh to a state where seven districts around the 
disputed region would be handed over to Baku in exchange for only the 
restoration of the former autonomous oblast.

Earlier, Pashinian said that his government attempted to change the logic of the 
negotiations to seek Nagorno-Karabakh’s independent status, but failed to do 
that.

Meanwhile, Sarkisian insisted that it is Pashinian’s policies that paved the way 
for last fall’s six-week war in which Azerbaijan restored control over seven 
districts around Nagorno-Karabakh (both militarily and under a November 10 
ceasefire agreement with Armenia brokered by Russia) and captured a chunk of the 
former autonomous oblast proper.

“Thousands of people have been killed due to your mediocrity or by you malicious 
intent (the court will soon decide which of the two). You resignedly endure the 
enemy’s encroachments on Armenia, flirt with the enemy who tortures our fellow 
citizens in Baku prisons, destroys our cultural values in Artsakh [the Armenian 
name for Nagorno-Karabakh]. Nobody believes you anymore, because you lied 
throughout the war, after it and continue to lie to this day,” the former leader 
said.

Sarkisian reminded that since coming to power in 2018 Pashinian insisted that he 
was not conducting negotiations with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. 
According to the former president, however, “the lie was revealed” when in April 
2020 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that back in April 2019 a new 
draft proposal envisaging a phased settlement was submitted to the parties. “No 
one in Yerevan has officially denied Lavrov’s statement,” Sarkisian said.

“Another lie was exposed when the Russian co-chair of the Organization for 
Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group, Igor Popov, commented 
on [Pashinian’s] notorious article “The Origin of the 44-Day War,” in which the 
capitulator claimed that the proposals of the Russian side to resolve the 
conflict did not concern the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, but concerned only the 
return of seven districts to Azerbaijan,” Sarkisian said.

In his comments, Popov, in particular, said: “The statements that Russia offered 
that [Armenia] simply return seven districts [to Azerbaijan] and forget about 
the status [of Nagorno-Karabakh] do not correspond to reality.”

Sarkisian continued: “Representatives of the other two co-chairing countries – 
the United States and France – have not refuted this [Popov’s] statement, 
revealing the irresponsible and deceitful essence of the person occupying the 
post of the prime minister in Armenia.”

Sarkisian further charged that because of Pashinian’s “starting negotiations 
from his own point” and his “populist manner of action” “all provisions on the 
right of Nagorno-Karabakh’s people to self-determination were pushed out of the 
negotiations.”

The former president again cited Popov, who said that “although it was not 
possible to reach a full agreement, the most important thing was that the 
negotiations were going on continuously until 2018 when Yerevan put forward new 
conditions.”

Addressing his words to Pashinian, Sarkisian concluded: “Your manipulations are 
endless, but you won’t be able to mislead the people. The time has come for you 
to answer for your actions.”


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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