Category: 2020

 09:55,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. A number of Armenian cultural and spiritual monuments have come under the Azerbaijani control as a result of the recent war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artrsakh: these monuments are of special importance for Armenians.

Armenia’s ministry of education, science, culture and sport is cooperating with both the local and international organizations for their preservation, however, no tangible results have been achieved yet in this regard.

UNESCO has tried to send a commission of international observers to these sites, however, Azerbaijan refused to grant an access.

Armenian deputy minister of education, science, culture and sport Narine Khachaturyan told Armenpress that they are cooperating with the foreign ministry over the preservation of the monuments of Artsakh which have come under the Azerbaijani control. “We have formed a group with the Armenian specialists who live both in Armenia and abroad. Armenians, who are engaged in lobbying activities at international platforms, are involved in the group, but the main organization we are applying to is UNESCO. It was expected in December that UNESCO should have sent a commission of international observers to the territories of Artsakh which currently are under the control of Azerbaijan. The commission must have carried out a monitoring of several Armenian monuments. The delegates were from Russia, France, the United States and Italy, however, Azerbaijan banned their entry to these territories”, the deputy minister said.

She stated that Azerbaijan in general doesn’t explain its action. According to Khachaturyan, Azerbaijan absolutely doesn’t show any good will in general.

“The members of the commission are specialists. They are visiting a particular monument, then return back and again visit some times later to see whether that monument has been distorted or not. They are not a political commission, they are professional groups and can visit Artsakh to see what monuments they need to observe”, she said.

Reporting Angela Hambardzumyan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 10:39,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan condemned the Azerbaijani military for “terrorizing” the peaceful residents of Armenia by installing a “Welcome to Azerbaijan” sign in between border settlements in Syunik, where delimitation and demarcation works are still ongoing.

The sign, featuring a distorted map showing large parts of Syunik as part of Azerbaijan, was installed by the Azeri troops on the road leading from the town of Goris to the village of Vorotan. Azeri flags were also installed near the village of Vorotan.

“The sign was installed on a road linking an Armenian civilian settlement with another one,” Tatoyan said in a statement, adding that the Azeri troops installed the sign to explicitly terrorize and transgress the rights of the peaceful Armenian residents of the border towns.

“This is a totally condemnable step which was done with the explicit intent to terrorize peaceful residents, first of all taking into consideration the tortures, inhumane treatment and other war crimes and ethnic cleansings that the Azerbaijani military committed against our people especially during and after the September-November 2020 war. Such steps are especially condemnable on the background of continuing state-sanctioned and organized propaganda of anti-Armenian sentiment and murder of Armenians in Azerbaijan, as well as the fact that publically known persons who’ve declared themselves human rights defenders in Azerbaijan are explicitly calling for a new war against Armenia,” Tatoyan said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 11:40,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Ombudsman of Armenia Arman Tatoyan has issued a statement, noting that “any factor, including periodically published untrue information on armed conflicts by the Azerbaijani sources or any provocation of armed conflict cannot be a reason for the disruption or suspension of the most important humanitarian process”.

Armenpress presents the full text of the statement:

“1. Late yesterday evening, Azerbaijani media sources reported that military fights had resumed between Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces near the village of Togh in Hadrut Province (Azerbaijani: village of Aghdam (Hakaku) in the Khojavend District). Azerbaijani media sources also reported about casualties on both sides. The same information later stated the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan.

2. Immediately after the publication of this news, I applied to the Ministry of Defense of Armenia and the Defense Army of Artsakh with urgent official inquiries. Both agencies strongly denied the spreading information, assuring that the ceasefire regime is strictly observed, and military units have not taken part in any operation in the area, as well as they claimed that no emergency incidents were reported in connection with the units of the Defense Army. Later on the same issues, the public statements of the Ministry of Defense and the Defense Army were published.
3. Furthermore, monitoring of the Human Rights Defender’s Office has revealed that at around 12:45pm, on December 28 the Iranian "MiranPress" telegram channel, citing its sources, reported that the incident in the Hadrut region had not taken place between Artsakh's and Azerbaijani armed forces, but Azerbaijani servicemen shot at each other, which resulted in three victims.
4. In the capacity of Armenia’s Human Rights Defender, I expressly emphasize that a crucial humanitarian process is currently underway with regards to human rights protection. This especially refers to the exchange of bodies of killed persons and the return of prisoners of war and civilian captives.
5. I specifically warn that any provocation or statement that leads to an armed conflict in the post-war period cannot disrupt the process of returning war prisoners and civilian captives and exchanging bodies.
6. I recall that as a baseline fact, it should be taken as a basis that provisions of the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, regarding the complete ceasefire and the cessation of all hostilities, the parties undertook to maintain, which has not been disputed by any party's authority.
7. Therefore, any factor, including periodically published untrue information on armed conflicts by the Azerbaijani sources or any provocation of armed conflict cannot be a reason for the disruption or suspension of the most important humanitarian process, particularly in connection with the return of war prisoners and civilian captives and the exchange of bodies.
8. Hence, I call upon the international community and specifically international bodies with human rights protection mandate, to pay scrupulous attention to the current situation in order to ensure continuity and acceleration of such a humanitarian mission as well as to exclude any obstacles to its normal course.
9. This statement will be sent to competent international bodies with my separate signature.
10. Issues related to the human rights and humanitarian law protection in the post-war period will continue to be in immediate attention of Armenia’s Human Rights Defender”.

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 11:05,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. 348 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been confirmed in Armenia in the past one day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 158,296, the ministry of healthcare said today.

1267 more patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 140,942.

2483 tests were conducted in the past one day.

22 more patients have died, raising the death toll to 2797.

The number of active cases is 13,881.

The number of patients who had coronavirus but died from other disease has reached 676 (2 new such cases).

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 14:07,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 27,002 to 3,105,037 in the past 24 hours, TASS reports citing the anti-coronavirus crisis center.

The number of new daily coronavirus cases is the lowest since December 16. A total of 27,787 cases were identified on December 28.

According to the crisis center, the coronavirus growth rate has been at or below 0.9% for three days.

The number of coronavirus-related fatalities in Russia went up by 562 in the past 24 hours, compared to 487 on previous day, taking the total to 55,827.

The provisional death rate stands at 1.8%.

Russia’s coronavirus recoveries grew by 24,874 in the past 24 hours. A total of 2,496,183 people have recovered by now.

 14:19,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Head of the ruling My Step faction of the Armenian Parliament Lilit Makunts says she has some information according to which a meeting may take place between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the heads of the three factions represented in the Parliament.

Commenting on reports according to which a meeting between Pashinyan and leader of the Prosperous Armenia party Gagik Tsarukyan is expected, Makunts told reporters: “Frankly, I'm not aware of the final concrete information. As head of the My Step faction, I have received preliminary information that such meeting may take place”.

According to her, if that meeting takes place, the talk will be around the agenda of snap parliamentary elections.

Asked whether there will be a meeting also with the head of the Bright Armenia faction, she stated that according to her information a meeting may take place with the heads of all the three parliamentary factions. “As of now I do not have information about any concrete date”, she said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 14:32,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. The Director of the National Security Service Armen Abazyan is visiting Moscow, Russia.

“We confirm the news, he is in Moscow. We can’t provide further details,” a spokesperson for the Armenian National Security Service told ARMENPRESS.

Abazyan had visited Moscow again earlier in December.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 12:45,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) under the Justice Department have conducted a special operation to uncover a criminal network that was engaged in trafficking cocaine from South America to Russia and Europe. The FSB said 330 kilograms of cocaine possibly worth 1 billion rubles ($13.56 million) if sold had been seized, reports TASS.

“The Federal Security Service jointly with the Drug Enforcement Administration under the US Department of Justice conducted a multi-stage international special operation to stop illegal activities of a transnational criminal group specializing on trafficking cocaine from South America to Russia and other European states”, the FSB reported.

According to the special service, at least 330 kg were confiscated, criminal cases were launched against the criminal network members, they were placed in custody.

“The drug traffickers could have made 1 billion rubles by selling the seized drug”, the FSB clarified.

 14:48,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Parliament removed MP Naira Zohrabyan from her position as Chair of the Human Rights Committee of Parliament over her remarks made earlier in December addressed namely to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan which was deemed insulting and humiliating. 

The issue of removing Zohrabyan from the position was brought forward by the ruling My Step bloc.

78 lawmakers voted in favor and 4 voted against the motion in a secret vote.

The two opposition parties, the BHK – which Zohrabyan herself represents, as well as the LHK, boycotted the debate of the motion.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 15:04,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ara Aivazian received today Ambassador of Kazakhstan Timur Urazayev who is completing his diplomatic mission in Armenia, the Armenian foreign ministry told Armenpress.

The minister thanked the Ambassador for his contribution to the strengthening of the Armenian-Kazakh relations, wishing success to his further activities.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan