Category: 2020

Lucky 15 Armenian entrepreneurs to meet Elon Musk at Draper University training course

 11:28,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Armenian entrepreneurs will have the chance to study in the Silicon Valley sponsored by the government, Deputy Minister of High Tech Industry Armen Abroyan told ARMENPRESS.

“Anyone above the age of 21, who has some entrepreneurial experience, perhaps having founded an organization or is a co-founder and have a new idea and think they will be able to advance it with this project can apply”, he said.

The deadline for submitting applications is January 27.

“There is great interest for this project. Even accomplished entrepreneurs are applying, something which is very exciting”, Abroyan said.

The 7-week training course will be held at the esteemed Draper University in California, USA.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Co-founder of Pandora Media Tim Westergren, as well as executives from AirBnB, YouTube and other corporations will share their experiences with the beginning entrepreneurs during the trainings.

Abroyan said they have a goal of making Armenia a regional high tech hub, and in this context they highlight educational initiatives, among others. The deputy minister attached importance to this particular program, noting that it will enable to connect Armenia will global-level tech centers.

“This isn’t simply an educational program, this gives the chance to gain experience and establish contacts, build relationships with investors: it is very important to find ways to advance your own ideas”, he said.

Abroyan says the joint program was agreed upon during Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to the Silicon Valley in 2019. The Armenian PM had met with the Drapers, the founders of the university.

The lucky 15 entrepreneurs from Armenia will be selected by a commission delegated by the Draper University and the Armenian High Tech Industry Ministry. The commission will take into account the ideas, potential and other components while considering the applications.

“Armenia has been mostly focused on solving engineering problems, science and engineering idea was developed, but the component of transforming this idea into a business and expanding it was weak. We believe that entrepreneurial skills will be very useful for our specialists,” the deputy minister added.

After completing the training course, the participants will share their skills and experience with students and beginning entrepreneurs from across Armenia within two years. 

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

Artsakh Ombudsman releases statement on 30th anniversary of Baku pogroms

 11:41,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. The Human Rights Defender Artak Beglaryan of the Republic of Artsakh issued a statement on the 30th anniversary of the Baku massacres of Armenians organized by Azerbaijan in January 1990.

Armenpress presents the text of the statement:

“In January 1990, the Azerbaijani city of Baku again became a tramp for continuously executing massacres against Armenians (third time after 1905 and 1918 massive massacres of Armenians), where, unlike in other Azerbaijani settlements, a considerable number of Armenians were still living. After a crowded rally in Baku on January 13th, according to a predefined plan, a crowd of about 50,000, divided into groups, invaded the homes of Armenians in order to "clean" the city from them.

During the period from 13th to 20th January, the Armenians of Baku were subjected to violence, massacres, looting and forcible expulsion for their nationality, massively violating their rights to life, not being tortured and discriminated against, liberty and security, property, fair trial, among others. The exact number of the killed people is not known yet, but according to our latest research, it is over 450 people.

On the occasion of the massacres of Armenians in Baku and attacks on Getashen and other Armenian villages of Shahumyan region, on January 18th, the European Parliament adopted a resolution titled “On the Situation in Armenia”, which called upon the authorities of the USSR to “guarantee real protection for the Armenian people living in Azerbaijan by sending forces to intervene.”

Only on the night of January 20th, the Soviet Army subdivisions were brought to the capital of the Azerbaijani SSR. Overcoming the fierce resistance of the Azerbaijani National Front troops, The Soviet army stopped the 7-days massacre of Armenians.

On September 27th, 1990, an open letter addressed to the international community was published in the New York Review of Books. The letter was signed by 133 prominent scholars and human rights advocates from Europe, Canada and the USA, who voiced their complaint against the killings and pogroms of Armenians in Baku. It stated particularly that “The crimes committed against Armenian minority have become a consistent practice in Soviet Azerbaijan, if not an official policy.”

That crime against humanity, organized by Azerbaijan in Baku, has accelerated and almost finished the full ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population in Azerbaijan. Within the framework of that ethnic cleansing, during 1988-1990, thousands of Armenians were killed and more than 400,000 Armenians were deported from Azerbaijani Sumgait, Kirovabad and other cities, as well as from the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, with knowledge and permission of the USSR authorities.

In subsequent years (including during the 1991-1994 Azerbaijan-Karabakh war), Azerbaijan continued the policy of ethnic cleansing of Armenians, according to our analysis, which is in full compliance with the legal formulation of the genocide perpetrated under the UN 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Moreover, our research shows that apart from the depatriation of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani Armenians, their rights to property and free movement, among others, have also been violated on a continuous basis. Many of these Armenians still bear the physical, psychological and material consequences of that policy.

Those committed crimes have not received relevant legal assessment and have remained unpunished, which led to the implementation of the official anti-Armenian hatred policy pursued by the Republic of Azerbaijan. The victims of that policy are not only Azerbaijani Armenians and the population of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), but also all Armenians worldwide, as well as foreigners visiting Artsakh. As a reminder, the Artsakh Republic Human Rights Ombudsman published a special report in 2018 on the Azerbaijani anti-Armenian hatred policy, presenting concrete examples of its manifestation and relevant international law analysis.

An active stage of manifestation of Armenophobia in the Azerbaijani society was also recorded in April 2016 – during the large-scale attack on Artsakh by Azerbaijan. The Human Rights Ombudsman, within the framework of his fact-finding mission, presented a report in 2016 on killings, beheadings, tortures and other cases of war crimes and human rights violations against civilians and military servicemen of Artsakh. It is noteworthy that the Azerbaijani servicemen, who have committed such crimes, were later rewarded and encouraged by the Azerbaijani authorities.

The Ombudsman urges the international community to give a proper legal assessment to the 1990 January massacre in Baku, in accordance with the fundamental principles and norms of international law, as well as to take action to end the ongoing anti-Armenian hatred policy. This path of racial hatred not only contradicts the well-known principles of international law, but also takes the two peoples away from conflict resolution and lasting peace”.

 11:51,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. In September 1918, 23 thousand Armenians fell victim of thoroughly planned pogroms against the ethnic Armenian population of Baku. Stores, houses and oil factories owned by Armenians were razed to ground or looted. The Armenian community of Baku suffered not only human but also financial losses. The pogroms started in mid-September when the city was seized by Turkish army and went on till November of the same year. There is incontrovertible evidence related to the pogroms kept in the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany. The evidence includes records and reports of the German soldiers who, at the time, were in Baku or in other places adjacent to the city. The most detailed calculation of human losses of the Armenian population was conducted by Bakhshi Ishkhanyan who, at that period, was the head of the Statistical Commission of the Armenian National Council of Baku. Bakhshi Ishkhanyan presented the results of those surveys in his book “Great Horrors of the city of Baku: Statistical research of the events of September 1918”, weighing them up with other sources as well, which was published in 1919. As of September 1918 more than 100 000 Armenians, including refugees from different regions of Azerbaijan that escaped to Baku because of the Turkish offensive, were living in Baku. Although until the city’s surrender to Turkish forces in September, 1918, ⅓ of the Armenian population was able to evacuate the city by the sea, the majority of Armenians remained in their homes falling victim to Turkish-Tartar attacks.

From the research of the Statistical Commission under the Baku Armenian National Council. The list does not include the number of refugees from other regions and labor migrants, who had no relatives in Baku. Armenian pogroms were deliberate in nature and coordinated not only by the Turkish forces but also by the authorities of the newly-formed Azerbaijan Democratic Republic which then was settled in Elizavetpol (Gandzak, nowadays Gyanja). It is noteworthy that there was a secret order by the Minister of Interior Affairs of ADR, Behbud Khan-Jevanshir, addressed to the mayors of Nukhi, Shemakhi and Baku, stating: “It is necessary to knock the Armenians down and step over their bodies in order to achieve our goals. Do not feel sorry for anyone and follow the orders given to you”. According to the reports of the Statistical Commission presided by Bakhshi Ishkhanyan in just 3 days approximately 9 thousand people were murdered. The death toll consists of 5248 names to which were also added the numbers of the victims among Armenian refugees from Shemakhi and Goycha. The committee also took into consideration the fact that there were many Armenian workers in the city’s oil factories who, unfortunately, had no relatives left in the city to clarify their fate.

• Murdered during the pogroms of 15-17 September (only according to the death toll) – 5248 ○ Men – 3763 ○ Women – 1485 ○ Children aged 1-15 ● Missing – 3572 ○ Of which 3215 were killed (according to the surveys) ● Prisoners – 4246 ○ Of which 2972 were killed in the result of slave labour ● Killed in 3 months – 8139 (of illnesses and epidemics – includes the number of refugees leaving for Persia, South Caucasus and Central Asia)

According to the surveys and reports, the number of people who were killed or died during the pogroms as well as afterwards, as a result of the pogroms, in the period of Baku’s Turkish-Azerbaijani governance up to the entry of British forces, and also considering the number of missing people and dead in captivity from hard labor, and Armenians who lost their lives because of diseases and epidemics as a result of deportation from the city, brings the total number of victims to 23 314 people. During that time, the Chief of Staff of the Turkish Army’s East group, German Lt. Colonel Paraken noted in a report dated 26.09.1918 to Lt. General Von Seeckt: “Atrocities generally happened inside the houses. That’s the reason why there were comparatively less corpses in the streets. In general, they [the corpses], were at the corners thus we often could feel them in smell. I saw 7 corpses piled together, among them children as well…Almost all of the corpses were covered with bruises. The basements had putrid smell… At the presence of other witnesses a German told me that together with the Nuri Pasha’s adjutant they had entered a home where 13 Georgians were indiscriminately killed. When he drew the attention on the fact that the victims are Georgian, i.e. people under the auspices of Germans, the adjutant of Nuri shrugged and said: “They were simply mistaken for Armenians”. These genocidal acts against Armenians were left unpunished which naturally led to their repetition in the late 80's, when a heinous crime against the Armenian community was committed in Baku again, for the third time in the history of the city.

 12:59,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has offered an apology for delaying the admission that the national military was responsible for downing the Ukrainian plane, Iran’s state TV broadcast the speech on January 15, reports TASS.

“I would like to offer an apology for the delay and for our tone”, the president said.

The Iranian President also urged the armed forces to provide more information about the crash of the Ukrainian plane.

On January 8, the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 plane en route from Tehran to Kiev crashed shortly after takeoff near Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport. There were 176 people on board, and no one survived. Among them were citizens of Afghanistan, Germany, Iran, Canada, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Sweden. On January 11, Iran's General Staff of the Armed Forces issued a statement saying that the plane was accidentally downed by an Iranian missile after being mistaken for a cruise missile.

Armenia Wine's 2019 achievements and 2020 priorities

 13:22,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. The Armenia Wine Company, which started in 2006, has become a symbol of modern Armenian winemaking thanks to its award-winning wines, exemplary vineyards and state-of-the-art technologies. Summing up the exciting results achieved in 2019, the company is embarking on a new investment project in 2020.

21st Century Vineyards and Organic Viticulture

Armenia Wine Company began cultivating organic viticulture in 2017, emphasizing the importance of environmental protection, as well as honesty towards consumers and employees.

As part of a plan to expand its own vineyards, in 2019 the company planted another 14 hectares of organic vineyards in the village of Sasunik in Aragatsotn marz (province), thus bringing the overall area of its vineyards to 74 hectares.

Armenia Wine products are made from Armenian and European grape varieties purchased from four regions of the country. In 2019, two more varieties were added to the 15 varieties already cultivated - organic Siran and Petit Verdaux. In 2019, the company procured more than 7,000 metric tons of grapes from some 600 suppliers. 

Wins and partners in the international market

The best presentation of Armenian wines in the international market has been one of Armenia Wine's most important missions since the very first day of its establishment. It cooperates with companies in more than 26 countries showcasing the delicate aroma of Armenian terroir in the Russian, Belarusian, Czech, American, Canadian, French and other markets.

Being one of the largest wine exporters, in 2019 the company obtained six new partners and increased total export volumes by 25%. Last year, the company participated in 5 international exhibitions, winning 27 medals for its high-quality wines – 5 gold, 6 silver and 16 bronze. 

Achievements in the local market

Since its inception 11 years ago, Armenia Wine has become one of the most recognized and beloved wine brands  in Armenia. In 2019, the company's products were on sale in over 7,000 sales and service centers across Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, with sales volume surging by over 35%.

Wine tourism center

In 2019 the winery hosted more than 7,000 tourists from 15 countries, positioning itself as one of the wine tourism centers in Armenia.

Visitors to the winery were not only shown the products of Armenia Wine, but also were told the history and culture of Armenian winemaking and the art of wine tasting.  The Hazarashen wine store in the winery offers visitors  Armenia Wine products at factory prices.

The year of 2019 was also marked for the company by the reopening of the Nazani national restaurant, along with interesting approaches in  the tasting and  professional halls.

Throughout the past year, the company organized a number of educational programs in the field of wine-making, designed to train local specialists.

Upcoming programs

Armenia Wine, as the first winery to have introduced innovative and modern technologies is now entering a new phase of development.

Promoting the development of organic agriculture in Armenia, the company introduces modern agricultural technologies and cultural formats that are used today in the most developed countries. In 2020, the winery will expand the process of planting new vineyards, paying particular attention to the Armenian and European varieties already under cultivation by adding Armenian native varieties.

Continuing its specialized education programs and the exchange of practical knowledge with the involvement of the best international experts, in 2020 Armenia Wine will continue cooperation with rural economies to obtain high quality grapes.

The company will also continue to invest in gastrotourism. A unique wine museum will be created, where visitors from Armenia and abroad will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the 6,000 year-old history of Armenian wines. 

In 2020, Armenia Wine will unveil a new and unique product, Port wine, and will present to the local and international markets a brand new French-style manufactured Armenian cognac with the flavor of Armenian terroir.

The company takes pride in announcing its success in the world markets. Armenia Wine's products have their worthy place among the highest quality wines with the most demanding buyers in the world.

Serzh Sargsyan’s complaint against asset freezing denied – prosecution

 11:45,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. The General Prosecution has denied ex-president Serzh Sargsyan’s appeal against a freezing injunction imposed on some of his assets as part of an indictment on alleged embezzlement.

The General Prosecution said Sargsyan’s lawyer Amram Makinyan had filed the complaint.

Sargsyan is suspected in abuse of power and embezzlement of nearly half a billion drams during his tenure as president through a businessman Barsegh Beglaryan, who in turn is also facing criminal charges.  

The assets of Barsegh Beglaryan, the head of FLASH, a petroleum company based in Armenia, were also frozen earlier in December.

Authorities said they had frozen the assets equal to the amount of the suspected damages inflicted.

On January 10, the Special Investigations Service had announced it completed investigating the alleged misconduct and embezzlement by third President Serzh Sargsyan. The indictment was sent to court pending proceedings.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 14:20,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Archaeologists have discovered a 2nd century aqueduct during excavations in Artashat, a town in the province of Ararat 30 km southeast of Yerevan.  The water bridge was constructed sometime between 114-117, according to Pavel Avetisyan – the Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences.

He said the finding is a “huge water supply structure”.

“We have unearthed the foundations of this aqueduct. 20 foundations were unearthed in one kilometer territory”, Avetisyan said.

He said studies will actively continue in 2020 to understand what has been preserved and what can be excavated in the “legendary capital city of Artashat”. Founded by King Artashes I in 176 BC, Artashat served as the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia from 185 BC until 120 AD.

Moreover, experts have revealed that several massive royal palace buildings have been recorded in what near the highway leading to Khor Virap outside Artashat. The foundations of these structures have been preserved and are currently on lands that is privately owned. Avetisyan said they will work in this direction also.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 14:50,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Archaeologists in Armenia have studied aromatic hydrocarbons found at the Lusakert 1 Cave site and claim that this shows Stone Age Neanderthals were in fact able to make fire, Pavel Avetisyan – the Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences said at a news conference. The studies were made in 2019.

“I am talking about the cultural layer which Neanderthals left. This is news in the field of study of the archaic humans. Prior to these arguments, it was believed that only modern humans created and used fire. But this study showed that Neanderthals were in fact able to artificially create fire. This is a very serious study, which has a result of international significance”, Avetisyan said.

The excavations at the Lusakert 1 site – a cave where once Neanderthals lived – are carried out by a joint Armenian-American group of scientists.  

The aromatic hydrocarbons found in the cave showed that there was a source of creating fire.

In the past, researchers believed Neanderthals were unable to create fire and were relying on mother nature: i.e. they waited for the lighting to strike a tree to take the burning wood parts, or took fire from wildfires.

Studies showed that fire was used in the Lusakert 1 cave on a constant pattern, moreover – wildfires in the nearby terrain were extremely rare.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 15:03,

STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. On January 15, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Artsakh Masis Mayilian held a press conference to summarize the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 2019, the ministry told Armenpress.

During the press conference, Masis Mayilian briefed on the works carried out in the foreign policy sphere for the reporting period aimed at the international recognition of the independence of Artsakh, the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict, the provision of favorable external conditions for the safe development of Artsakh, the implementation of initiatives in the international arena that meet the interests of the country.

The Foreign Minister noted that the cornerstone of Artsakh's foreign policy is expanding the scope of Artsakh's international recognition and international cooperation, strengthening interaction and friendship between Artsakh and other states, and expanding the Republic's involvement in the peace process, emphasizing that the main efforts of the Foreign Ministry have been focused on ensuring success in these processes.

Referring to the realization of the goals, Masis Mayilian noted that the year was quite effective. Not only have efforts continued to strengthen Artsakh's international relations, but steps have been taken to expand the geography of Artsakh's international cooperation. Thus, the working visits of the Artsakh delegation to Uruguay, Argentina, Australia, the United States, Russia, France and Egypt were held, within the framework of which the NKR Foreign Minister met with representatives of the political, public and scientific circles of the respective states. As a result of these meetings arrangements on cooperation were reached. Within the framework of the visits traditional meetings with Armenian Diaspora organizations took place.

The Foreign Minister of Artsakh stressed the importance of continuing the efforts on expanding the frameworks of the decentralized cooperation between the administrative units of Artsakh and different countries. In this regard, Masis Mayilian noted, in particular, the adoption of the resolution on establishing friendly relations between Stepanakert and the Australian city of Ryde in the run-up to the working visit of the Artsakh delegation to Australia. A Circle of Friendship with Artsakh was established in Australia, involving MPs and Senators of the Federal Parliament, Ministers, as well as the Prime Minister of the State of New South Wales, the Speakers of the Upper and Lower Houses of the State Parliament, scientists, clergy and culture representatives. The Declaration of Friendship signed between Hadrut region of Artsakh and Isere Department of France in September 2019, as well as the joint Declaration signed by Artsakh’s Foreign Minister Masis Mayilian and President of the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes of the French Republic Laurent Wauquiez in October 2019 also testify to the continued strengthening of the friendly relations.

The Foreign Minister of Artsakh stressed the importance of the key political event of the year held in Stepanakert – the Friends of Artsakh Forum “Cooperation for the Sake of Justice and Peace” – organized jointly by the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Artsakh and the ARF Dashnaktsutyun. Representatives of parliamentary Friendship Groups and Circles, twin cities, as well as the administrative-territorial units, which had recognized the independence of Artsakh or cooperate with Artsakh, in general, over 150 representatives from about 30 states, participated in the Forum. Following the Forum, the participants adopted a Declaration, in which they called on the international community to take all necessary steps to remove the obstacles to the full-fledged participation of Artsakh in the international cooperation aimed at promoting democracy, as well as strengthening peace and stability in the region. Within the frameworks of the Forum, a decision was also made to create an international network of friends of Artsakh – “ProArtsakh” – with the aim of raising awareness of Artsakh in the international arena, protecting the legitimate interests of its people and promoting the involvement of Artsakh in international processes.

Masis Mayilian informed that the activity of the Foreign Ministry of Artsakh in international structures was reaching a new level; in particular, the Artsakh side had started a process of submitting national reports on the implementation of the provisions of international conventions, primarily in the sphere of human rights. Thus, for the first time, Artsakh disseminated in the UN a periodic report on fulfilling the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Works on the report on implementing the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights were launched. Within the frameworks of this process, the Republic of Artsakh plans to accede to the core international human rights instruments. The Republic is also expanding its involvement in the process of discussing global issues and trends. Just in this context should be considered the adoption by Artsakh of the UN “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” within the frameworks of which the National Council for Sustainable Development was established and the Voluntary National Review on the implementation of the ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ was prepared and submitted to the UN.

The Foreign Minister of Artsakh also touched upon the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict settlement process, noting that the processes of the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh, expansion of its international integration and the negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict are proceeding in parallel. At the same time, he stressed that the redoubling of the efforts of the policy aimed at the international recognition of Artsakh would not only help to alleviate Azerbaijan's uncompromising negotiating positions, but would also contribute to raising the level of Artsakh’s security and regional stability. Masis Mayilian stressed that in order to make real progress in the peace process and reach a final settlement of the conflict, it is necessary to restore the full trilateral format of the negotiation process with the full-fledged participation of official Stepanakert.

The Foreign Minister also noted that in 2019, the peace process on the settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict was largely aimed at maintaining stability in the region. It was noted that in general, the ceasefire regime was maintained at the state border between Artsakh and Azerbaijan. Emphasizing the importance of excluding the prospects of war and ensuring stability in the conflict zone, Masis Mayilian emphasized that the Artsakh authorities continued to support the OSCE mission's regular monitoring of the ceasefire. The Foreign Minister also noted that during the year a number of confidence-building measures were agreed and implemented between the parties to the conflict aimed at creating favorable conditions for the promotion of the peace process. Masis Mayilian also underlined the importance of the meeting with the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak, during which the NKR Foreign Minister presented the Republic's position on the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict settlement. With the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, head of the Artsakh Union of Armenian Refugees from Azerbaijan Sarasar Saryan had an opportunity to present to the OSCE Chairman-in-Office the situation regarding the refugees in Artsakh. The Minister also noted that during the year the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs visited Stepanakert twice, met with the President of Artsakh, the Foreign Minister and the Minister of Defense.

Masis Mayilian noted that the year of 2019 had marked the 25th anniversary of the most important document in the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict settlement process – the Agreement on the full cessation of fire and hostilities, signed by Artsakh, the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which had allowed to transfer the conflict settlement to the diplomatic realm. In this regard, on May 10, a conference was organized in Stepanakert at the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh, with the participation of political and public figures from Artsakh, Armenia and Russia. Former Co-Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Vladimir Kazimirov participated in the conference as an honorable guest.

During the press conference, Masis Mayilian also noted the high level of cooperation between the Foreign Ministries of Artsakh and Armenia, which allows Stepanakert to present to the counterparts in Yerevan the position of Artsakh on different key aspects of the Pan-Armenian agenda, as well as issues related to the peace process. In this context, Masis Mayilian stressed the importance of signing on July 5 the Plan of consultations between the Foreign Ministries of the Republic of Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia for 2019-2020, which allows the two Foreign Ministries to intensify the cooperation at the institutional level.

The Foreign Minister also noted that at the initiative of the Foreign Ministry the procedure for issuing visas to foreign tourists was revised. This step, along with nationwide and international political, sports and cultural events held in Artsakh, including, in particular, the Friends of Artsakh Forum, the European Championship of the Confederation of Independent Football Associations and the Pan-Armenian Games, allowed to register a record growth in the number of foreign citizens who had visited Artsakh. Compared with the previous year, the growth in 2019 amounted to around 47 %.

 15:38,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. PM Nikol Pashinyan was questioned today by investigators as a witness in the criminal investigation into the 2018 wiretapping of his phone conversation with then-NSS Director Artur Vanetsyan as well as the latter’s phone conversation with SIS Director Sasun Khachatryan.

The conversations were leaked online earlier in 2018.

The PM was questioned as part of the probe into alleged misconduct by all parties involved. The investigation is also determining whether or not there was any obstruction of justice against the judges who examined the arrest motions of former President Robert Kocharyan and former military official Yuri Khachaturov.

PM Pashinyan has been questioned at the Investigations Committee as a witness in the criminal case to determine the circumstances of possible in interferences on courts, Investigations Committee spokesperson Naira Harutyunyan said.

A separate investigation on the illegal wiretapping and leak of the phone calls is also in process. Pashinyan has been questioned for this case also, but as a victim.

The two questioning sessions lasted 2 hours and 35 minutes.  

 

Edited and translated Stepan Kocharyan