11:11, 7 January, 2022
YEREVAN, JANUARY 7, ARMENPRESS. 129 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Armenia in the past 24 hours, the ministry of health said.
The total number of confirmed cases has reached 345,518.
130 patients have recovered in one day, bringing the total recoveries to 332,588.
The death toll has risen to 7997 (4 death cases registered in the past one day).
3899 COVID-19 tests were conducted on January 6.
The number of active cases is 3422.
Riot police officers block a street during a protest rally over a hike in energy prices in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Jan. 5, 2022. (EPA Photo)
Members of Daesh and Gülenist terrorist groups are behind the ongoing riots in Kazakhstan, a former member of the Russia’s State Duma said in a statement late Thursday.
Ruslan Balbek, who is also the former deputy prime minister of the internationally unrecognized administration of Crimea, told Russia’s state-run Ria Novosti that the “hands of ISIS and Gülenists are visible” in the protests, he said, using an alternate acronym for Daesh.
Recalling that Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) was behind the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, Balbek claimed that they are also at play in the Kazakh riots.
"The hands of ISIS are visible in organizing riots on the territory of Kazakhstan,” he said.
“It is in their style – brutal killings and absurd demands,” Balbek added.
“But those Kazakhs, who were trained in Turkey at the educational institutions of Fetullah Gülen, the organizer of the coup attempt in Ankara, are at the helm,” he said, referring to the schools – which are now under Turkish government control – formerly run by the Gülenists.
Protesters “picked up an ideological virus” from Fetullah Gülen, the leader of the Gülenist cult, Balbek concluded.
Kazakhstan's armed forces have been called in to restore order and break up riots that seem to have grown into general revolt, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said earlier on Thursday.
"Terrorist gangs" were engaged in a fight with paratroopers in Almaty, he said, adding that this is "not a threat, but an undermining of the integrity of the state."
A Russia-led military alliance of six countries, Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), said Thursday that it will dispatch peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan after the country’s president asked for help in controlling protests that escalated into violence, including government buildings being seized and set alight. In a Facebook post, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian confirmed that the CSTO will send peacekeepers to Kazakhstan at the country’s request.
A day after the pledge, Armenia sent some 70 soldiers to Kazakhstan as part of the contingent. According to Sputnik Armenia, the troops are expected to ensure the protection of objects of strategic importance.
Ershan Babakumarov, the deputy mayor of Almaty, reported that an occupation of the city's airport had ended. Multiple airlines had canceled flights to the city after people occupied it on Wednesday.
PanARMENIAN.Net - Lawmakers from Armenia's ruling Civil Contract party Sedrak Tevonyan and Sergey Movsisyan have resigned.
According to a statement released by President of National Assembly Alen Simonyan, said MPs have one week to withdraw their resignations. If they fail to do so, the resignation will be considered accepted.
Neither lawmaker has offered reasons behind their decision to give up seats in the parliament.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) with Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusolgu
Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a telephone conversation with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed, among other issues, the process of normalization of relations with Armenia.
Blinken and Cavusoglu “….. discussed issues related to the Horn of Africa, Turkey’s appointment of a Special Envoy to discuss the process of normalization with Armenia, and opportunities to deepen cooperation bilaterally and as NATO Allies to address areas of mutual concern,” a State Department said in a readout.
Meanwhile, according to Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar Turkey and the United States are scheduled to discuss the situation around the F-35 fighter jet program during a meeting in Washington in early 2022, Sputnik reported.
“Regarding the F-35 issue, a US delegation came to Turkey in October on account of that issue. Our delegation will discuss this matter again early in the year. This meeting is likely to take place in Washington. We have clearly stated our position to the American side; we are waiting for the results,” Akar told the Hurriyet Daily News.
As Armenia and Turkey are preparing to begin discussions on normalization of relations, which will be carried out by special envoys appointed by Yerevan and Ankara,
Turkish airline Pegasus has applied to the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia to obtain permission to operate flights to and from Istanbul and Yerevan, Sona Harutyunyan, a spokesperson for Armenia’s Territorial Development Ministry confirmed to Public Radio of Armenia.
“Pegasus has submitted an application to operate two flights a week from February,” Harutyunyan said, adding that the Civil Aviation Committee has begun reviewing the application and will make a decision within a reasonable time frame.
Last week, the Armenian airline FlyOne Armenia received permission from the local aviation authorities to carry out charter flights to and from Yerevan and Istanbul and is awaiting a similar decision from the Turkey.
President Artur Tovmasyan of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) National Assembly has issued a congratulatory message on the 30th anniversary of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Supreme Council of the First Convocation. The message reads as follows:
30 years ago, on this day, as a result of the elections held on December 28, 1991, the legislative body of the newly created republic was formed – the Supreme Council, which at its first sitting on January 6, 1992, adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Proceeding from the inalienable right of the people to self-determination, relying on the free will of the people of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.
On this occasion, I warmly congratulate the legislative body chairmen, vice-chairmen, chairmen of committees, heads of factions, deputies of all convocations and wish them health, peace and a dignified future.
Azerbaijan responded to the declaration of independence with three wars. During the first Artsakh war 11 deputies of the first convocation of the Supreme Council enlisted in the army and sacrificed their lives. Eternal glory to them, to all the heroes who died for the homeland, I bow to their sacred memory.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the NKR Supreme Council, the Artsakh Parliament intended to convene a special sitting on December 28. However, due to the widespread national quarantine announced in the Republic, no session was convened.
Nowadays, Artsakh, though shrunken, has a statehood, and its independence is indisputable. Next to the final settlement of the conflict is the issue of international recognition of the Artsakh Republic and its borders, and is unconditionally set.
The existence and salvation of the Armenian people who struggled in the crossroads of history was always conditioned by the unity and unanimity of the Armenians.
With our way of life and confidence, we must stand up for our homeland and fight for the protection of our rights. Our will and goals are unshakable, they are not subject to compromise.
We call on all Armenians for unity, mutual understanding and tolerance.
Ahead of Christmas, on December 31, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, visited military positions on the western border of the Republic of Armenia.
The Catholicos was accompanied by Rev. Fr. Archimandrite Movses Sargsyan, religious leader of the Armed Forces.
President Armen Sarkissian of Armenia has issued a New Year video message. He stated as follows in this message:
Dear compatriots in Armenia, Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)], and in the Diaspora,
The year of 2021 is coming to its close. For our people, Armenia and Artsakh, it was a most difficult year, with a hard period of the aftermath of the war and pandemic. My deepest respect to the eternal memory of our sons who sacrificed their lives for the Homeland. I share that deep sorrow with you. I offer my condolences to the families and relatives of many of our compatriots who fell victim to the pandemic. I wish good health to all the wounded and sick. I will continue my international efforts for the quick return of all our captive compatriots and finding the missing.
Dear compatriots,
Thirty years ago these days, we celebrated the New Year for the first time as citizens of the independent Republic of Armenia. Achievements and victories and, unfortunately, losses mark these thirty years. Today, our country is facing most serious ordeals and challenges once again. We need will to overcome those ordeals. We must have a clear vision and a plan, be honest and responsible.
It is necessary to have a deep awareness of national identity and statehood. Identity is the passport of the state, and the state is the guarantor of national identity. We must become a competitive country using our great global potential. Therefore, it is necessary to open the doors of the Homeland for all our compatriots. And for this, you must first change the Constitution, so that our compatriots in the Diaspora, and all our people could freely be part of our country and serve their Homeland.
The amendment of the Constitution will also contribute to a more effective governance of the state, to balancing state structures, to more flexible and interconnected, more understandable and responsible activities. It's high time to realize that our strongest weapon is ourselves, our army, our work and our mind. It's time to become a state, whom they believe and trust, which is a reliable bulwark for all its citizens, around which we all unite. I truly believe that together we can build our future.
Believe in your strength,
Respect our country,
Respect every compatriot.
And the world will respect us more: as a people and as a state.
Dear compatriots,
New Year is a holiday of hope, faith, and expectations. I am confident that we can overcome today's challenges. I am confident that we can become a stable and peaceful, prosperous and dignified country with strong, and invulnerable borders. I believe that together we can build a strong Armenia. I see that way. For our country, and for our people, for every one of you, and for your families, let 2022 be a year of health, peace, and success, a year of abundance and progress. Let warmth and solidarity, attention, care and love to each other reign in all our families!
Happy New Year!
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan speaks at the opening of a military unit in occupied Hadrut on Dec. 24
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan once again threatened to wage war against Armenia on Friday during the opening of a military base in Artsakh’s occupied Hadrut.
“Baku will prevent the dangers posing a threat to Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity,” he said during his speech.
“If Armenia tries to become a source of danger for us again, its end will be the same as it was during the second war in Nagorno-Karabakh,” added Aliyev.
The Azerbaijani leader also announced that the newly-inaugurated base n Hadrut will house special military detachments.
“The creation of ‘commando’ brigades is an innovation for us. Azerbaijan is creating such brigades that can complete any combat task. This will essentially increase the capacity of our army,” he said.
“Azerbaijan did not end army construction after the war and hasn’t cut the expenditures for the army, on the contrary, it has increased them,” explained Aliyev, according to a press statement from his office.
“The new contracts signed after the war are being implemented, and the most state-of-the-art weapons and equipment are being imported on the basis of those contracts,” he added.
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Aliyev stated that the procurement of military equipment, the increase of military expenditures, as well as the rise of the salaries of servicemen go to show that “the process of fortifying the armed forces will not end, even though the war is over.”
PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia is ready to consider the possibility of granting Azerbaijan observer status within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Friday, December 24.
Pashinyan made the remarks during a virtual press conference on Friday, maintaining that the matter could be discussed if such an official process is initiated within the EAEU but added that Armenia's stance will depend on the course of negotiations with Azerbaijan.
"I can't express a position now. If we see that this step contributes to the opening of a peaceful era, the prospects for the settlement of the Artsakh conflict, the possibility of compromises, it should be in that general context," the Prime Minister said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said earlier that the development of a dialogue between Azerbaijan and the Eurasian Economic Union – of which Armenia is a member – would "contribute to the intensification of mutual trade". Armenian Foreign Minister spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan maintained, however, that such decisions have to be based on a consensus among member states.
Thousands of demonstrators march in the streets of Los Angeles, California, on Oct. 11, 2020, in opposition to Azerbaijan's military actions in the Armenian-run region of Nagorno-Karabakh. | Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region
These days, you would be hard-pressed to find a topic that all Americans across the political spectrum would have the same view. But there is one that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike can view the same way: Armenia.
Earlier this year, President Biden referred to the massacre of nearly 1.5 million Armenian Christians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide, becoming the first President of the United States to meaningfully do so. This is no coincidence: In 2019, overwhelming majority in both houses of Congress passed resolutions in the same spirit, showing Armenians that the American people stood in solidarity in affirming history.
Which begs the question: Why? Why would a country roughly the size of Maine, halfway across the world, command such attention? With so many corners of the world crying out, why focus on Armenia?
Cynics might argue the Armenian genocide controversy gets attention because it draws comparisons to the Holocaust while invoking it as an example of the world not caring about all heinous crimes equally. Or because it was perpetrated in effect by Turkey, a country whose threats are the reason most presidents have held back on using the term.
But I think there is something deeper at play, something instructive. Something that offers Americans, otherwise mired in bitter political infighting, a vision of a brighter future.
First, many Americans care about Armenia — and perhaps more of them should — because Americans of Armenian descent remain such an astoundingly dedicated and vocal diaspora, and one that contributes substantially to Americans’ everyday lives. From the arts and medicine to bio-tech and culture, Armenians have contributed magnificently. They represent the very idea of diaspora, with an intensity not often seen.
America may be a nation of immigrants, but most of them, a generation or two after settling in, are happy enough to relegate their heritage to a secondary role. Armenian-Americans, on the other hand, have a markedly different pattern of behavior. Rather than pursuing total assimilation, many believe that the two parts of their hyphenated identity strengthen each other and that having a deep passion for Armenia, makes one more, not less, likely to show an equally deep commitment to America. American Jews, of course, experience a similar dynamic. That is perhaps why they, like Armenians, contributed so much to American life and culture despite their small numbers.
Armenians are also bound by religion. The world’s first Christian nation, Armenia remains strongly tethered to its faith. And while we remain committed to religious freedom, a core tenet of any liberal democracy, we continue to worship with fierce devotion. When the Pew Research Center surveyed citizens of all of Europe’s nations in 2018 about their faith, Armenia came second in devoutness, with 79 percent of respondents saying they believed in God with absolute certainty and 53 percent saying religion was very important in their lives.
Finally, there’s Armenia’s commitment to freedom. Under repeated attacks by one dictatorship, Azerbaijan, which is backed by another, Turkey, and the ISIS mercenaries it brought in, Armenia continues to stand for the West’s commitment to liberty. We don’t only speak of these values in the abstract; we pay for them in blood. We are fighting against the same forces that elsewhere target American and European soldiers and civilians, and foment violence and new genocide.
If the last two decades have taught us anything, it’s that any American attempt to remain cloistered and removed from the rest of the world is doomed to fail; whether we like it or not, ours is an interconnected reality, and evil unchecked in one corner of the world will soon spread to all others.
Seen in this light, then, it’s no wonder that Americans are united in their support for Armenia. A deep commitment to tradition, a strong passion for religion, and an unwavering dedication to liberty are all profoundly American values. Looking at Armenia, Americans see a story they find exhilaratingly familiar with their own origins: That of a young nation, fueled by faith and freedom, proud of its own sensibilities and refusing to be swallowed up by imperial forces that would subjugate it.
Let us hope, then, that recent statements from Washington aren’t the last of their kinds. There’s much about Armenia for Americans, especially Americans of faith, to discover. As so many Americans grapple with questions of identity, trying to figure out how to make sense of the many complicated parts of themselves, Armenians offer a lesson in how resilience can result from staying rooted in both tradition and modernity, in equal measure and at the same time.
In having one foot in the past, and the other in the future.
Archbishop Vicken Aykazian is Legate of the Armenian Diocese of America, former president of the National Council of Churches, and a member of the Central and Executive Committees of the World Council of Churches.