Category: 2021

The president of Azerbaijan has come up with a new initiative which aims to create a "basis" for territorial claims against Armenia.

This time Ilham Aliyev has "Azerbaijanized" the Yerevan Teachers' Seminary.

According to Azerbaijani media, Aliyev signed an order Wednesday to prepare the events for the 140th anniversary of the “Irevan Teachers' Seminary.”

The Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan has prepared a respective program, and the Cabinet of Ministers has been instructed to resolve the matters arising from this order.

The decision, in particular, states that the seminary, which was established in 1881—that is, half a century before the emergence of Azerbaijan—"has made a commendable contribution to the preservation of the Irevan mahal where Azerbaijanis formed a majority in the preservation of the traditional content and activities of social, literary, scientific, and cultural life. They have written memorable pages in the annals of pedagogical thought."

But the obvious fact that this education institution was called a "seminary" and, accordingly, it presupposes Christian education, does not seem to bother the Azerbaijani authorities.

To note, the aforesaid is not the first declaration by Ilham Aliyev about Yerevan "belonging to Azerbaijan." Previously, he had claimed that the Armenian capital was "the homeland of his ancestors."

The answer to your question is given in the statement by the leaders of the three countries [Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan] on November 9, 2020. Russian foreign ministry official representative Maria Zakharova stated this Thursday at her weekly press briefing, when asked to comment on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement that the Azerbaijanis of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) should return to their small homeland, and Armenia will not dispute their right to live in Karabakh.

"In particular, point 7 [of the November 9, 2020 statement] is a direct quote: ‘Internally displaced persons and refugees shall return to Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent areas under the control of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.’ There is nothing to add," Zakharova said.

Arman Khachatryan, one of the Armenian POWs who was captured on November 16 by Azerbaijan and was returned Wednesday, has been detained. This information was confirmed to Armenian News-NEWS.am by the Investigative Committee of Armenia.

The committee added that he has been charged with violating the rules of military service.

As reported earlier, five Armenian captives were returned from Azerbaijan Wednesday.

To note, a criminal charge has now been brought against the sixth Armenian soldier who was captured during the November 16 battles and then was returned.

The incumbent authorities of Armenia have been assigned to renounce the idea of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated in the Ottoman Empire and the Declaration of Independence; otherwise, all their agreements will be considered unconstitutional. This is what former Chief of Staff of the Constitutional Court of Armenia Edgar Ghazaryan said during a press conference today.

According to him, this is exactly the reason why Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan paid a visit to the Constitutional Court a few days ago. He added that, in all senses, this visit is illegal since it contains signs of a criminally punishable act.

“It’s a criminal offense. As a matter of fact, no judge of the Constitutional Court attended the meeting since there are only two judges left in the Constitutional Court, including Hrayr Tovmasyan and Arevik Petrosyan. A judge of the Constitutional Court simply can’t meet with the Prime Minister since the Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court requires that judges of the Constitutional Court maintain political restraint and not take part in this or that political process,” Ghazaryan clarified.

An Armenian court rejected the motion of an investigator to extend the arrest of former prisoner of war Robert Nalbandyan, who was returned to Armenia from Azerbaijani captivity through mediation of the Russian side on Dec. 4. This is what human rights activist Ruben Melikyan wrote on his Facebook page.

“On January 6, Armenian Christmas, the former prisoner of war will be released. Judge Shiroyan rendered this important decision,” Melikyan added.

Robert Nalbandyan was arrested for a month, and the term will expire on Jan. 6, 2022. He was captured when the Azerbaijani troops attacked the eastern border of Armenia and invaded the sovereign territory of Armenia on Nov. 16. The former prisoner of war is charged with violating the rules for on-duty combat or combat service which entailed grave consequences. Nalbandyan doesn’t accept the charges brought against him.

Nalbandyan is a father of three children and has health problems since he received bodily injuries while he was in Azerbaijani captivity, as a result of which he received fractures in his ribs.

Currently, out of the ex-prisoners of war who were captured on Nov. 16 and have been returned to Armenia, five are under arrest, and one was detained yesterday.

First Deputy Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Colonel General Kerim Veliyev today inspected the military units deployed in the Lachin region.

As reported Azerbaijani presses, citing the press service of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, “during a meeting with the personnel performing service in poor weather, the chief of the General Staff gave assignments for further increase of combat-readiness and maintenance of combat-readiness on the state border at a high level, including in the direction of Garagyol Lake. Later, the personnel of the military unit took part in a consultation during which the results of the year 2021. The participants of the meeting were told about the objectives that President of Azerbaijan, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev and the defense minister have set forth for the army, as well as the activities being carried out for improvement of the social and living conditions. Assignments were also given to improve the combat and official activities.”

“Garagyol Lake” is Sev Lake, one of the areas of the sovereign territory of Armenia that the Azerbaijani army has invaded.

Russian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Jeyhun Bayramov discussed the course of implementation of the trilateral agreements reached by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the foreign ministers summed up the results of the joint activities of the passing year, in the context of the bilateral relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, as well as the regional and international agendas.

“Success has been recorded in the Russian-Azerbaijani strategic partnership in all directions.

There was an exchange of ideas on the course of implementation of the trilateral agreements that the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia reached on November 9, 2020, January 11, 2021 and November 26, 2021. An agreement was reached to work on rapid and full implementation of the decisions made during the summits, including in the direction of the launch of mechanisms for unblocking of economic and transport links in the region and demarcation of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border,” the press release reads.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, during the talk, “the founding meeting of the ‘3+3’ format in Moscow and the meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian public figures were discussed”.

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan has opened transport communication between Turkey and the South Caucasus through Georgian territory, emphasizing that this automobile tunnel will link the countries and their economies in the region, Hurriyet reports.

“This automobile tunnel will contribute to the development of Erzurum and Ardvin as two major tourist destinations. This will also ease transit traffic to the Caucasus through these two cities,” Erdogan said in a video message on the occasion of the opening of the automobile tunnel.

The 2,246 km-long tunnel stretches from Uzundere province of Erzurum to Georgia through the bordering Ardvin city. It is expected that the investment will increase trade-economic activity between the countries of the region and will engage tourists.

According to Erdogan, the automobile tunnel will replace the old and very hazardous mountain pass, adding that the government will save nearly 18,000,000 Turkish liras thanks to the road tunnel.

Armenia has recorded a certain rise in the number of crimes across the country. This is what Deputy Chief of Police of Armenia Ara Fidanyan said during a briefing following the government’s session on Thursday, adding that there are objective and subjective reasons for this and that more details will be provided when the results of the year are summed up.

Fidanyan expressed confidence that the patrol service is well-established and that its work is rather fruitful.

“The fact that there are incidents and criminal cases goes to show that the Police of Armenia are open and don’t conceal anything. We also need to take into consideration how many crimes the Patrol Service has revealed. The public is content with the patrol officers’ work,” he stated.

Touching upon the case of a few police officers beating a man, he clarified that it would be inappropriate to blame the Police or the Special Investigation Service for this since the police aren’t investigating the criminal case. “The police didn’t beat him. I call on you to address the body carrying out preliminary investigation,” he added.