Newsweek
Author: Toneyan Mark
Armenian peacekeepers take part in solemn event in Lebanon
News.am
Armenia –
17:55, 22.03.2022
An event dedicated to the 44th anniversary of UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) was held at the Lebanon peacekeeping mission headquarters on Tuesday.
Armenia Defense Ministry's press service informed that the event was attended by the Armenian military who are deployed as part of the peacekeeping mission.
https://news.am/eng/news/692743.html
Sports: Armenian pair to compete in World Figure Skating Championships
Panorama
Armenia –
SPORT 13:13 19/03/2022 ARMENIA
Armenian figure skating pair Tina Garabedian and Simon Proulx-Senecal are to compete in the 2022 World Figure Skating Championships.
Figure skater Slavik Hayrapetyan will not participate in the tournament due to injury, the Armenian National Olympic Committee reported on Friday.
The championships are set for 21-27 March in Montpellier, France.
Opposition MP: Armenian authorities turned victorious country into loser in a few years
Panorama.am
Armenia –
Tigran Abrahamyan, an MP from the opposition With Honor faction, blamed the incumbent authorities for turning Armenia from a winning country into a losing one in a few years.
“At meetings with various groups, the Azerbaijani president keeps complaining that his country was a loser in all fields for 30 years and only now can he proudly announce that the situation has changed and they are a winner,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday.
According to the lawmaker, in fact, after 2018, when the Armenian authorities kept saying that the situation had changed, they actually had it in mind.
"In a few years, the victorious country was turned into a loser, which was forced to capitulate," the lawmaker noted.
Reports on fighters from Artsakh transferring to Ukraine is fake news – presidency
15:14,
STEPANAKERT, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS. The authorities of Artsakh are reiterating that the reports alleging that fighters from the Republic of Artsakh are being taken to Ukraine to participate in the military operations are false.
President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan’s spokesperson Lusine Avanesyan told ARMENPRESS that the reports are fake news.
“The circulation of such fake news will definitely not help to de-escalate the situation,” Avanesyan said. “I clarify once again, only a limited amount of humanitarian aid at the size of our ability was sent from the Republic of Artsakh to Ukraine through the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in Artsakh,” Avanesyan added.
Earlier the Artsakh Foreign Ministry issued a also denying the Ukrainian military’s General Staff statement that fighters from Artsakh are being taken to Ukraine.
https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1077941.html
Men Acquitted After Dancing on Armenian Church Gate
March 14 2022
03/12/2022 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – A Turkish court recently acquitted three people who danced upon the gate of an Armenian church in July 2021. The three men were filmed dancing on the Armenian church in Istanbul surrounded by a large crowd protesting COVID-19 regulations.
They were released 48 hours later and two were placed on probation. Their actions sparked outrage among the Armenian community and activists who claimed they dishonored Surp Takavor Church and was part of a long string of vandalism at minority Christian sites, including looters at historic buildings.
Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh only deterrent for Azerbaijan, Human Rights Defender states
ARM INFO
Marianna Mkrtchyan
ArmInfo. The Azerbaijani authorities' policy is first of all aimed at new ethnic cleansing in and de-Armenianizing Nagorno-Karabakh, Artsakh Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan said in an interview with Article 3. He stressed that Azerbaijan pursued an identical policy in the Soviet period as well.
That policy was aimed at forcing Armenians into leaving Nagorno-Karabakh and at populating it with ethnic Azerbaijanis, he said.
"After World War I and after a peace treaty was signed, we could ensure our security. But the anti- Armenian policy was gaining momentum in Azerbaijan, spreading to all the areas of life, schools, with a view to bringing up a generation that would be full of hatred for Christian Armenians, as the policy has two components – ethnic and religious. We witnessed that during the 2020 war as well. Azerbaijanis were killing and torturing captured Armenians, destroying the Christian heritage. Azerbaijan continued its policy after the war as well. However, being aware of the fact that international organizations are informed of their policy, Azerbaijan, at the presidential level, is claiming the incidents are only individual," Mr Stepanyan said. Thus, Azerbaijan is trying to manipulate international organizations, concealing that it is the Azerbaijani leadership that is ordering the actions.
Under the circumstances, the Armenian side must present the facts.
Mr Stepanyan also stated that the Russian peacekeepers are the only deterrent for Azerbaijan in the context of Nagorno-Karabakh's security.
"Tension has been defused now as compared with the previous few days. But it is not a guarantee against recurrence. The Russian peacekeepers' presence is the only security guarantee. I am inclined to think that Azerbaijan could attempt to destabilize the situation round Nagorno-Karabakh taking advantage of Russia being involved in the Ukraine conflict," he said.
Mr Stepanyan also spoke of a grave humanitarian situation in Artsakh because of the damaged gas main, and the Azerbaijani side has not allowed repair work to be started for the fourth day.
Appealing to international agencies, Mr Stepanyan stressed that a territory's status cannot be an obstacle to the exercise of universal human rights of the local residents. Artsakh must not be viewed as a disputed territory, he said.
"It is the Artsakh residents' rights that must be prioritized. The global human rights agenda implies universal human rights. And we are trying to make international organizations hear it. We invited them to Artsakh both during and after the war. Regrettably, none of them took a clear stand or visited Artsakh either during or after the war," Mr Stepanyan said. But it was their duty to dispatch fact-finding missions, which was never done, he added.
Azerbaijan opens fire at Armenian positions – Defense Ministry
panorama.am
Armenia – March 9 2022
The Azerbaijani military on Wednesday opened fire at Armenian combat positions in the western section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The incident took place at around 1:10pm. The Azerbaijani troops used various caliber firearms.
“The enemy fire was suppressed by retaliatory measures of the Armenian side. As of 3pm, the situation on the border area was relatively stable,” the ministry said.
Turkish press: Armenian FM will attend Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Yerevan confirms
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addresses the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Antalya, Turkey, June 19, 2021. (AA Photo)
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will attend the upcoming Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey as the normalization process between the two countries continues, his spokesperson confirmed.
The event featuring political leaders, opinion makers and academics is scheduled from March 11-13 in the southern resort city of Antalya.
Turkish-Armenian relations entered a new phase after both countries appointed special representatives, which held their first meeting on Jan. 14 in Moscow.
The envoys from Turkey and Armenia, Serdar Kılıç and Ruben Rubinyan, held their second meeting in Vienna on Feb. 24 and "reiterated their agreement to continue the process without preconditions."