Author: Paul Hambardsumian

 11:58, 28 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday that Germany is considering setting up a missile shield for the whole of Germany, Deutsche Welle reports.

The missile defense system will be based on the Israeli model.

"[A missile shield] is certainly among the things we are discussing, for good reason," DW quoted Scholz as saying in an interview to broadcaster ARD.

"We must all prepare ourselves for the fact that we have a neighbor presently ready to use force to assert its interests."

German newspaper Bild am Sonntag had previously reported that Germany was considering purchasing an Israeli Arrow 3 system. This system would cost €2 billion ($2.2 billion), the newspaper reported.

 15:34, 28 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS. On March 28, Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of Jogorku Kenesh (Parliament) of the Kyrgyz Republic Talant Mamytov, the Armenian Parliament’s press service said.

The sides discussed the perspectives of cooperation within the framework of the IPA CIS, recording the necessity of the parliamentary diplomacy and the active cooperation of the Friendship Groups.

The Parliament Speaker highlighted the constructive cooperation of the delegations of the two countries in the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on other parliamentary platforms.

The Kyrgyz counterpart reminded about the protocol on the ceasefire of the Nagorno Karabakh signed in Bishkek in 1994, documenting that the bad peace is preferable from any war. Touching upon the issues of the establishment and peace of the region, both sides emphasized the support of the peace agenda.

Ideas were exchanged also over the decentralized cooperation among wide circle of discussions. In this context the upcoming exchange programs between the two second cities Gyumri and Osh, as well, as Shirak and Osh relevant universities were singled out.

 11:28, 24 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS. The citizens of the Republic of Artsakh are deprived of natural gas supply for already three days, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting. He said that the supply was cut off as a result of Azerbaijan’s intervention.

“As you know, on March 7 the pipeline supplying gas to Artsakh was blown up in Azerbaijani-controlled territory. Using the most various pretexts, Azerbaijan was not allowing repair works and eventually Azerbaijan itself repaired it. As a result, the information we have indicates that Azerbaijan installed a valve on the pipeline.

On March 18, 11 days later, after restoring the gas supply to Artsakh for 4 days Azerbaijan simply closed the valve without any explosions on March 21, thus proving that it was behind the March 7 explosion,” the PM said.

PM Pashinyan highlighted the fact that both cases of the supply cut-off happened in unique circumstances.

“On March 7, unprecedented amount of snowfalls in the last 30 years happened in Artsakh and unprecedented drop in air temperatures were recorded. New record snowfalls and freezing cold was recorded on March 21 and in some places the snowfalls reached one and a half meters, one meter in capital Stepanakert, and the temperature reached minus eight degrees. And in these conditions Artsakh was intentionally deprived by Azerbaijan from the vitally significant natural gas supplies for heating apartments, kindergartens, schools and hospitals,” PM Pashinyan said.

He emphasized that this is enough to understand that as a result of Azerbaijan’s actions Artsakh is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster.

Pashinyan said he has no doubts that the heroic people of Artsakh will overcome this trial as well.

“But with this realization I must also say for the record that with its actions Azerbaijan is also rendering a service to the people of Artsakh, because this episode concerning the gas pipeline is a very precise and brief description of the Artsakh conflict for the international community. With this episode, the international community can understand the essence of the Karabakh conflict without reading hundreds of pages and studying the nuances of history.

This unequivocally showcases Azerbaijan’s policy towards the Armenians of Artsakh: That is – to make their life in their own homeland impossible. For one and a half years now, Azerbaijan is boasting of its so-called glorious victory in the 2020 44-day war, but everything shows that the fact that after so much suffering and deprivations, today, right now over 117,000 Armenians live in Artsakh, Azerbaijan considers this fact its biggest defeat and has set an objective to complete its policy of ethnic cleansing in Artsakh,” PM Pashinyan said.

In this context, Pashinyan said the Azerbaijani foreign ministry’s latest statement is very symbolic and speaks volumes, because Baku said in this statement that the Artsakh gas supply issue is its internal affair.

“If we interpret this from diplomatic language, this means that they are saying – ‘international community, don’t look this way and let us complete our policy of getting rid of Armenians by genocidal policy and ethnic cleansing in Artsakh under the pretext of so-called anti-terror actions or simply without obstructions, quietly’. No such thing can happen, and the diplomatic service of Armenia, other government officials, political forces, media, NGOs and individuals should in detail and widely present to the international community through social media everything that happened in Artsakh in the past 15 days,” Pashinyan said.

On March 8, the authorities of Artsakh said that the main pipeline supplying gas from Armenia to Artsakh was damaged on March 7 and the supply was stopped.

The Artsakh authorities had said the area where the damage occurred was in Azerbaijani-controlled territory. It was reported that the Azerbaijani military deliberately damaged the pipeline.

The Azerbaijani authorities obstructed repair works for days. Only on March 16 the authorities in Artsakh announced that the Azerbaijani side itself began the repair work. However, days later, the gas supply was cut again. Authorities said they have reasons to believe that during the repairs the Azeri authorities installed a valve on the pipeline in order to shut it down whenever they want.

Meanwhile, the population of Artsakh is without gas and heating amid freezing temperatures and snowfalls. The Artsakh foreign ministry described Azerbaijan’s actions as humanitarian terrorism.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the current situation emphasizes the urgency of clear response of the international community towards preventing the humanitarian crisis.

On March 22 the Human Rights Defender of Armenia Kristinne Grigoryan and the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Gegham Stepanyan issued a joint statement, calling on international human rights organizations to pressure Azerbaijan and eliminate its gross and continuous human rights violations against the Armenians of Artsakh.

On March 23, the FM of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan said they utilized all diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation.

On March 23, the European Union expressed its concerns.

On March 24, Freedom House  Azerbaijan to prevent humanitarian crisis and restore gas supplies to Artsakh.

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1078764.html?fbclid=IwAR1so5uLImyeRqZaHRxqSLUbMZOow5bxZbIHJKMpLL1m77VwxfQdbveBg3c

 10:37,

YEREVAN, MARCH 26, ARMENPRESS. France expressed concern over the Azerbaijani military advance in Nagorno Karabakh.

“France expresses regret over the recorded incidents in Nagorno Karabakh, particularly the armed incidents and the troop advance in Parukh and Khramort regions. France calls on the forces, which, as reported, have advanced, to pull back to their initial positions in accordance to the November 9 2020 ceasefire statement,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

The French foreign ministry also expressed concern over the gas supply cut-off in Nagorno Karabakh, demanding the restoration of the supply. It said that this issue has been noted during the French foreign minister’s phone calls with Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts.

On March 24-25 the Azerbaijani troops attacked Artsakh military positions and invaded the Parukh village.

Azeri drone strikes killed 3 Artsakh troops and wounded 15 others.

On March 8, the authorities of Artsakh said that the main pipeline supplying gas from Armenia to Artsakh was damaged and the supply was stopped.

The Artsakh authorities had said the area where the damage occurred was in Azerbaijani-controlled territory. It was reported that the Azerbaijani military deliberately damaged the pipeline.

The Azerbaijani authorities obstructed repair works for days. Only on March 16 the authorities in Artsakh announced that the Azerbaijani side itself began the repair work. However, days later, the gas supply was cut again. Authorities said they have reasons to believe that during the repairs the Azeri authorities installed a valve on the pipeline in order to shut it down whenever they want.

Meanwhile, the population of Artsakh is without gas and heating amid freezing temperatures and snowfalls. The Artsakh foreign ministry described Azerbaijan’s actions as humanitarian terrorism.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the current situation emphasizes the urgency of clear response of the international community towards preventing the humanitarian crisis.

On March 22 the Human Rights Defender of Armenia Kristinne Grigoryan and the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Gegham Stepanyan issued a joint statement, calling on international human rights organizations to pressure Azerbaijan and eliminate its gross and continuous human rights violations against the Armenians of Artsakh.

On March 23, the FM of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan said they utilized all diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation.

On March 23, the European Union expressed its concerns.

On March 24, Freedom House  Azerbaijan to prevent humanitarian crisis and restore gas supplies to Artsakh.

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1078965.html?fbclid=IwAR3QJBXtaC9Sn9mP1J0FT1WQlvsrcR_fthVZhlm8MyF8E5bGIdwl-xg17js

 15:52,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan said today that Azerbaijan is holding in captivity 38 persons, 3 of whom are civilians.

“Armenian prisoners of war and civilians are still illegally held in Azerbaijan. And Armenia continues raising the issue of the immediate return of Armenian POWs, hostages and other persons held in Azerbaijan at different international formats. Azerbaijan is still holding 38 persons – POW, hostage and persons held in another status. 3 out of 38 are civilians. It’s worth noting that 2 out of these 38 have been captured before the November 9", the FM said at the session of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs.

The issue has been included to the agenda of the PACE autumn session on 2021 April 19, as well as the decision on applying ECHR interim measures in Azerbaijan is still in force.

On May 20, 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the immediate release and return of Armenian captives.

The FM also recalled the 2021 December 7 decisions of the UN’s International Court of Justice, where through the use of urgent measures the Court obliged Azerbaijan to prevent inciting racial hatred and discrimination targeting ethnic Armenians, to take necessary measures to prevent and punish the acts of vandalism and desecration directed against the Armenian cultural heritage.

The minister said the statement of the Azerbaijani culture minister that a commission must be set up to deal with the “restoration of Aghvan cultural monuments” makes urgent sending a UNESCO mission to Nagorno Karabakh. And the Armenian side is now holding negotiations on this direction.

 15:20,

YEREVAN, MARCH 19, ARMENPRESS. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Russia to meet for talks, BBC reports.

“We have always insisted on negotiations. We have offered dialogue, offered solutions for peace. And I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. It’s time to meet. Time to talk”, the Ukrainian President said in a video address.